Charlotte set the glasses of water on the table as her family sat down. After a minute, her father spoke. “Niños, I have bad news.”

Charlotte and her older brother, Edward, looked at their father. He continued, “Grandma is sick. She went to the doctor, and they found a brain tumor.”

Charlotte was confused but pretended to understand. After finishing her dinner, she told her mom she was going to a birthday party in her neighborhood and left.

An hour later, she returned home. She walked into the dining room expecting her parents to be talking as usual. She was shocked when she discovered something completely different. Her mother was sitting at the table crying and her father was on the phone with Charlotte’s grandmother’s doctor asking if he thought she’d make it to Thanksgiving. As she looked around she slowly understood that her Grandma didn’t just have a cold. She sat down on her mom’s lap and started crying. After a few minutes, her mom asked her, “Do you want to listen to this?” 

Charlotte shook her head, “I don’t want to be alone either,”

After what seemed like forever her dad finally got off the phone. He sighed. Charlotte could sense he wanted to tell Charlotte’s mom something but not with her there. Charlotte said, “Do you want me to go somewhere else, Papito?”

Her dad shook his head. He said, “No, it’s fine Char,” he turned to his wife, “The doctor doesn’t think she’ll make it to Thanksgiving,”

Charlotte’s mom asked, “Are you gonna go to California?”

Charlotte’s dad sighed again. He said, “I’m not sure. I don’t think so. Not yet,”

When Edward came home from his friend’s house he was shocked to find his family crying. After his mom explained what was going on to him, he just asked if he could go play basketball outside. After he left, Charlotte was shocked. Her mother explained, “It’s different,”

Charlotte asked, “How?”

Her mother said, “Well, this isn’t new information. We just told him this an hour ago. Also, people grieve differently. He might just be trying to distract himself. And, well, you were closer with Grandma than he was,”

Charlotte just nodded and didn’t reply.