My phone was ringing when I emerged from the shower. The screen was a little foggy, but I could still plainly see the caller ID: Mom. I tapped the speaker button so I could finish wrapping my dripping hair in a towel.

“Hey Mom!” I greeted her, feigning a smile to mask the distressed tone of my voice.

“Hey sweetheart!” She chirped on the other end. “How ya’ doing?”

“Good,” I lied, as I twisted my towel-wrapped hair into a pile on my head. “Relaxing for the evening. Just had a shower. How are you?”

“Doing alright. A little tired, though,” she sighed. “I suppose that’s to be expected when you’ve been a pirate, a cowgirl, an alligator and a truck over the course of 8 hours –Jack’s been quite the adventurer today… and a handful…”

I chuckled into the phone, as I pulled my fuzzy robe around myself. My nephew, Jack, had an impressive imagination that I was always happy to indulge whenever I visited.

“Just like his Dad…” I said.

“I heard that!” A familiar voice remarked in the background. Mom usually had her speaker-phone turned on during calls.

“Good!” I replied. “Means I don’t have to repeat it to your face later!”

The familiar voice laughed almost as loudly as Mom.

“How’s it going, sis?” He asked.

“Long day, little brother…” I said. Mom was still chuckling. “So long I’m not sure my ass has caught up with the rest of me.”

“Heh, know that feeling,” my brother, Lee, replied. “Wherever I left my energy I’m fairly certain my toddler has destroyed it by now.”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, kid,” my Mom quipped.

“Yeah, yeah…” I could hear Lee’s eye roll over the phone.

“What are you up to tonight?” I asked him.

“Just making dinner,” he said. “Sloppy joes.”

“Sounds pretty good,” I replied. “I’m having cardboard cuisine tonight. Frozen pepperoni pizza. I might get crazy and add some extra cheese.”

“Hey only the finest dining in this family,” my brother laughed. “Anyway I’ll let you finish talking to Mom. Catch you later!”

“Later,” I muttered, and heard him shuffle away from the phone.

“Sounds like it was an action-packed day for everyone,” Mom said.

“So how did Nana fair through all of Jack’s adventures?” I asked.

My Mom exhaled loudly over the phone. “Well, I feel like I’ve been run over by pirates, cowboys, alligators and trucks, but I’m still walking so I guess that’s a positive.”

I laughed again. “Sounds about right. You guys will both sleep well.”

“I know I will,” Mom muttered. “And if Jack doesn’t… well, that’s Mommy and Daddy’s problem.”

Lee snorted loudly in the background, and I could imagine the amused grin Mom was probably giving him over her shoulder. I smiled as I padded into the kitchen.

My brother and his wife, Julie, had moved in with Mom and her husband about two and half years ago, shortly after they realized they were pregnant. Jack had been a bit of surprise to the 23-year-old newlyweds who both worked demanding careers. Although they were not initially thrilled with the idea of sharing living space with parental units, it became necessary in order to handle the new, and unexpected, cost of raising a child –an expense they had not prepared for.

Ultimately it had been a good decision. Of course the members of the household all had their disagreements, and I often acted as mediator when the argument was between Lee and Mom, but for the most part they got along well. Mom enjoyed the time with her first, and only, grandchild, while Lee and Julie appreciated the free childcare so they could focus on their work.

“So, are we still on for tomorrow?” I asked. Mom and I had been planning a lunch date for a new Chinese place that had just opened up. Living in a small town, restaurant options were a bit limited, so whenever a new place opened we were only too eager to become its patrons.

“Well, actually, that’s what I was calling to talk to you about,” Mom said. “It looks like we’re going to get a lot of snow tonight.”

“Yeah?” I turned the faucet on to fill my tea kettle and peered out the window between yellowed blinds. “There were some pretty big flakes falling on my way home, but it didn’t seem to be sticking to the roads.”

“If it’s bad out there, tomorrow, let’s just postpone it,” Mom said. “I don’t want you out driving if it’s not safe.”

My tea kettle filled, I placed it on the stove. Thinking I would probably be hungry before long I turned on the oven to preheat at 450 degrees. I didn’t need to check the temperature indicated on the box, frozen pizzas were a staple of my diet, and as such I had it memorized.

“I should be fine, but let’s just see what it looks like tomorrow,” I reached into the cabinet for a teacup while I waited for the kettle to come to a boil. “I guess we could reschedule. I’m off for the next week.”

“It was really cool of your manager to let you off for a week,” she said. I sensed hesitation in her speech.

“Yeah, I could use a break,” I chose a packet of “Lady Grey” from my tea canister, hoping this conversation wasn’t going in the direction I was thinking.

There was a brief silence between us, and I braced myself for the evitable.

“Are you still having your uh… your um…” My Mom stammered. Thankfully my groan was muffled by the whistling of my tea kettle. Quickly I removed it from the burner and poured myself a steaming cup. The gentle citrus smell wafted into my nostrils and instantly soothed my nerves.

“Well, that’s what this week off is all about,” I shrugged. “A chance for me to relax. Decompress.”

“That’s a yes,” Mom replied.

I sighed as I carried my teacup to the table. It seemed my current, least-favorite, topic was unavoidable. I almost regretted telling Mom about my episodes.

“The doctor has me on a new medication, but I think stress has more to do with it than anything else,” I muttered into my teacup before taking a sip. During the day I was an enthusiastic coffee drinker. From the moment my alarm went off to the time I plopped into my recliner post-work, it was my beverage of choice. But in the evenings, especially miserable winter ones like this, I enjoyed the relaxing properties of hot tea.

“Probably so,” my Mom said. She could tell I didn’t want to talk about it, but motherly concern outweighed personal comfort. “When was your last episode?”

I coughed as a bit of tea went down the wrong tube. Great timing.

“Are you okay?” My Mother asked over the phone.

“Yeah…” I wiped my mouth with my sleeve. “My tea is a little hotter than I expected.” I hoped that the incident would distract my Mom long enough for me to change the subject.

“So you were saying…” Mom continued. “About your last episode.”

Damn... I thought.

“I’m not sure you want to know, Mom,” I replied.

“No Mother really wants to know that her baby isn’t well,” I could hear the frown in her voice.

I swirled the teabag in my cup wistfully.

“It’s just not a very comfortable subject to talk about,” I admitted. “I know that doesn’t exactly make it go away either.” I paused and rested my chin in my hand. “My last one was in the shower just a few minutes ago…”

An uncomfortable silence fell between our lines. I knew it wasn’t because of a bad connection.

“They’re getting more frequent, aren’t they?” Mom stated.

“Yeah…” I grunted, as I lifted myself from the chair. The light on the stove had clicked off, indicating that the oven had preheated. “I’m beginning to think these pills aren’t working…”

“Nana! Nana! Nana!” A tiny voice chimed over the phone. My nephew.

“Jack! Jack! Jack!” My Mother said. “What is it, sweetie?”

“Truck got hurt,” Jack said. “Give it a kiss.”

My Mother laughed. “Of course…” I heard her make an exaggerated kissing noise. “There, all better.”

“All better…” Jack repeated, apparently satisfied that whatever malady his toy truck had suffered from was healed.

“Hey listen, Jack. Do you know who I’m talking to?” Mom asked.

“No,” he replied. simply.

“I’m talking to your aunt Jenny,” she said.

“Ji!” He exclaimed, happily. “Ji! Ji! Ji!” He hadn’t quite learned how to say “Jenny,” yet.

“Hi Jack!” I said. “How are you?”

“Fine,” he said. I smiled, again. I was amazed at how much more verbal he became every day.

“What are you doing tonight?” I asked.

“I’m a frog,” he said, proudly.

I decided not to dwell on his oddly coincidental choice of occupation for the evening, and rubbed away the goosebumps that rose suddenly on my flesh.

“T-that’s great,” I stammered, trying to maintain composure. “Nana tells me you were a pirate, a cowboy, and an alligator today, too.”

“Yeah, but now I’m a frog,” he replied. To a toddler I’m sure this was as natural as switching from working in the garage to studying at the computer.

“Oh, I see. Of course,” I said.

“Yeah…” Jack said. “Okay, I play with trucks, now. Bye Ji!” I heard his little feet slapping the floor as he ran off down the hall.

“He’s so adorable…” I muttered to Mom as I started towards the fridge.

“Yes, he is definitely that…” Mom said. “He’s getting big, too…”

“Too fast…” I added as I opened the freezer door.

“As we were saying,” Mom’s tone instantly darkened now that Jack was out of ear shot. “… what exactly does happen during these… um… episodes?” She asked. “I’m still not sure, I understand.”

I sighed into the freezer as I removed tonight’s dinner. Mom was not going to let this subject go.

“It’s honestly really hard to describe,” I shook my head. “At least in a way that’s understandable. I’m not even sure I understand it.” I struggled to rip a hole in the plastic for a minute before giving up, and cutting it open with a pair of kitchen scissors instead. “It’s like… one minute I’m sipping a coffee at Barnes and Noble, and the next I’m somewhere else.”

Mom coughed lightly on her end, but didn’t say anything, so I continued.

“I can just be turning a corner on the street, and find myself looking at…” I paused, hesitant to elaborate. Even in my thoughts it sounded insane. “…I don’t know… something NOT our hometown. Someplace I’ve never seen before, except in my other deliriums. Like a forest, or a mountain, or a town or something. They never last longer than a few minutes, but long enough to make me disoriented. Long enough to make me worry what time it is.”

“Do you think there’s anything that triggers it?” Mom suggested. “Maybe tiredness? Standing up too fast? Low blood sugar?”

“I think I’ve been tested for everything up to and including Bubonic Plague in the past month, and so far every diagnostic has come back perfect. Other than being about 4 lbs over on my BMI I am the portrait of good health,” I muttered, as I placed the pizza directly on the oven rack. “But as far as what triggers it… yes, being tired seems to trigger it. So does sleeping too much. Eating gluten, not eating gluten; not enough Vitamin C, too much Vitamin C… I’ve tried essential oils, yoga, drinking more water, aligning my chakras and more cardio. It happens at work, and on my days off. Sometimes thinking about one of my episodes triggers another one, and sometimes they just happen spontaneously. Hell, who am I kidding? About anything triggers one my episodes. There’s no rhyme or reason to them. They just happen when they feel like it.”