“That is what we will do. That is what we will do. Why not take it yourself, then? Okooo mi,” she said, trying to get Marissa to see reason with her. “It’s not as if I want to put your effort to waste or that I don’t like myself, but just look at those tiny, tiny things there.” She pointed at the drugs on her side table with distaste, like she was referring to an exhibit. “They are way too much when it is not as if I am dying.”

“Maami, please don’t talk about dying.” Marissa said with a serious tone and her grandmother turned to her with a...