Sarah breathed heavily.
“Did you sign a power of attorney?”
I thought about the papers.
About Matthew sitting with me at the table, pushing sheets of paper.
“Mom, it is just for the bank.”
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“Mom, it is to make the taxes easier.”
“Mom, don’t read everything, you will get tired.”
“I signed some things.”
“In front of a notary?”
“Yes.”
“Did you understand what you signed?”
I felt shame.
A hot, cruel shame.
I, who for years managed the household expenses, who took care of a sick Anthony, who paid for school, groceries, doctors, bills, now had to admit that my own son had made me sign documents I didn’t understand.
“No,” I said.
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Sarah didn’t scold me.
That saved me.
“I am on my way there. Do not move. And turn off your location.”
I didn’t know how.
A young girl at the next table, who had overheard part of the call, walked over.
“Can I help?”
She was about twenty years old, with blue hair at the tips and a small piercing in her nose.
“My son is tracking me,” I said, feeling absurd.
She didn’t laugh.
She took my phone, opened settings, disabled location, sharing, apps.
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“There you go, ma’am. And remove this.”
She showed me an app with an innocent name: “Family Care.”
I hadn’t installed it.
Matthew had.
The girl handed back my phone.
“Don’t answer calls. Only messages. That way there is proof.”
I thanked her with a broken voice.
She squeezed my hand.
“My grandmother went through something similar. Do not go back to him alone.”
Sarah arrived twenty minutes later, with a briefcase, dark sunglasses, and a battle face.
She listened to me.
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She read Lily’s paper.
She saw Matthew’s messages.
Then she said:
“We are going to enter your house with witnesses.”
“What if the men are armed?”
“That is why we will not go alone.”
Nancy’s lawyer nephew arrived too.
His name was Paul, he was a retired public defender and walked slowly with a cane, but he had hawk eyes.
“The Elder Abuse Prevention Act is useful when people dare to use it,” he said, looking at me. “Your son cannot take you out of the country or empty your house if you do not want him to.”
