Grandma Carter sat quietly in her chair. That was how she usually was these days. She hadn’t really spoken in a few years unless you counted the occasional times she mistook someone for Grandpa Carter.

“Henry,” she’d always say, “are you finished with painting the house yet?”

Grandpa Carter had passed away years ago, and no one was quite certain why she always asked about painting the house. As far as everyone could tell, they’d always hired people to paint their house.

As it was, the outside seating was about as comfortable as could be expected and the late afternoon sun felt pleasant with the cool autumn air. Cassie, Grandma Carter’s oldest grandchild, still made sure to keep the lap blanket tucked in around her grandma’s lags.

“Are you thirsty grandma?” Cassie asked while she held up the water bottle and straw.

Grandma Carter accepted the drink and sipped gently on the straw, taking a few gulps before turning her head slightly to one side, showing that she was done. Cassie put the bottle away and pulled out a thin sandwich.

“Are you hungry?” Cassie asked next and she offered the sandwich to her grandma.

Grandma Carter didn’t seem to notice the sandwich and so Cassie put it, too, away. They sat together in the quiet stillness for a time. Cassie liked these moments with her grandmother. Certainly she missed the grandma she’d grown up with. Her infectious laugh and subtle mischievous nature were among Cassie’s favorite memories, but it was also the overt kindness Grandma Carter had always demonstrated that Cassie missed the most.

Sometimes Cassie wondered if her parents would go through what Grandma Carter dealing with. If she herself would slowly lose her memories when she got older. In those first few years, when Grandma Carter knew that her mind was slipping, she often became frustrated with herself as she felt everything fading away before her. But seeing her grandma when she could no longer even remember that she was forgetting things was worse. It was too dangerous to let her live alone but Grandma Carter didn’t want to move. Cassie didn’t blame her. Grandma and Grandpa had built their house together, they’d raised their children there, and Grandma Carter had every intention of spending the rest of her life there. It was interesting to Cassie to see what things her grandma’s mind clung to and what things it let go.

As luck would have it, Cassie and her husband, Javier, had both just finished school and had found jobs near Grandma Carter an the family agreed that she could stay in her home if Cassie and Javier would move in and watch after her. It took some doing to get their work schedules to line up just right so that one of them could always be home, and eventually Javier got permission to just work from home full time.

“How’s it coming?” Cassie called over her shoulder to where she’d last seen Javier.

“Soon,” Javier called back, “soon. It’s a lot heavier than it looked.”

She could hear him huffing and grunting as he fussed around inside with the furniture.

“You sure you don’t need some help?”

“No, no, I got it,” Javier called back to her.

“Well don’t hurt yourself.”

Javier just laughed in response and went back to his labors. Before long, he came back into view, pulling Grandma Carter’s old, large screen TV on a series of furniture dollies that he’d somehow managed to wedge beneath the behemoth television set.

“Here we come,” he panted, sweat dripping off his face. “I’ll get the cords in a second.”

Cassie held back her laughter. Javier was always insisting on doing things himself and making sure no one else had to lift a finger. Sometimes it annoyed Cassie, and in those instances Javier would immediately stop insisting on doing it all himself.

“I just want to help,” he’d always say in those instances, “not upset you.”

Cassie smiled as Javier ran about, bringing first the power cords and then the adapters so they could connect their laptop to the TV.

“Henry?” Grandma Carter said occasionally when Javier was in her view.

Cassie’s smile wavered slightly. Grandma Carter often mistook Javier for Grandpa Carter these days.

“Henry, are you finished painting the house yet?”

“Not yet,” Javier replied as usual for whenever Grandma Carter asked him that question, “not yet.”

“We’re going to a concert,” Cassie told Grandma Carter in an effort to draw her attention away from Javier and perhaps get her to talk to her. “Remember, grandma?”

Grandma Carter’s face slid back to its usual neutral expression and Cassie slumped somewhat in her seat.

“It’s alright,” Javier said gently and gave Cassie’s shoulder a squeeze as he walked passed.

“I just want to see her again,” Cassie sighed, “I want her to see me again.”

“I know,” Javier replied softly, “I know.”

The TV flickered on and Javier began checking connections to make sure the laptop and TV were communicating properly. They’d needed to find three different adapters to be able to plug into the TV from the laptop but, as Javier tested the video and audio, everything seemed to be working alright.

“Are you ready, grandma?” Javier asked and Grandma Carter shifted slightly in her seat.

Javier clicked the mouse and the playlist he and Cassie had assembled began to play.

As the first few chords began to sound, Grandma Carter began to sit up somewhat straighter in her chair. It was like watching her wake up as she watched the screen and listened intently. She began to mouth the words as they were sung.

“Do you know who this is?” Cassie asked.

“Don’t be silly,” Grandma Carter said in what had once been her usual manner, “it’s Willie Nelson!”

“That’s right grandma,” Cassie said and she was surprised as she realized she was crying.

Javier wrapped an arm around her shoulder and held her tightly while they listened to Grandma Carter begin to sing right along with Willie Nelson. She began quietly at first but as the songs continued, Grandma Carter sang out louder and stronger.

“Henry?” Grandma Carter said and she looked around as “Funny How Time Slips Away” began to play, “Henry, where are you? It’s your favorite song!”

She only looked troubled for a moment before she began to sing along to it all the louder, and Cassie couldn’t help but feel there was a certain awareness to Grandma Carter as she sang the refrain, “Gee, ain’t it funny, how time slips away.”

While Grandma Carter sang, Cassie quietly wept and saw Javier pull out the list they had found in Grandma Carter’s dresser the first week they’d moved in. Most of the items on the list were crossed out. They were things like ‘Visit the Grand Canyon’, ‘Watch Perseids meteor shower’, and ‘See the sunrise and sunset on the beach”. Many of those things Cassie remembered her grandparents doing over the years together. After Grandpa Carter passed away, though, Cassie couldn’t remember her grandma ever going on any more trips.

Pulling a pen from his other pocket, Javier crossed out the next unmarked item on the list: Front row at a Willie show.

“Thank you,” Cassie whispered and she kissed Javier on the cheek.

“Of course,” Javier whispered back.

Together they sat and listened to Grandma Carter sing along with Willie Nelson in her backyard as the afternoon faded into evening.