A young intern nurse, maybe twenty-two and still possessing a soul, stepped forward. “Nurse Vance, maybe we could just give her another hour? I can check the system again…”

“Back to the station, Sarah!” Brenda snapped without looking away from my mother. “The Board is breathing down my neck about ‘uncompensated care.’ I’m not losing my bonus because this woman wants to play pretend.”

Brenda grabbed the back of my mother’s wheelchair. The sudden jerk made my mother’s head snap back.

“What are you doing?” my mother cried out, fear finally breaking through her dignity.

“I’m escorting you to the curb,” Brenda said, her voice dropping to a hiss. “Security is already on their way to make sure you don’t wander back in. You can wait for your ‘billionaire son’ at the bus stop.”

“Please, I need my medication,” Clara pleaded. “It’s upstairs. I can’t… I can’t go out there in the heat without my oxygen tank.”

“Then you should have paid for it,” Brenda said.