I am visiting my mother in her new apartment where she is living alone. It is a large place and I have fun looking for familiar pieces of furniture. She starts showing me around and telling me where things will ultimately go, explaining that she has a lot of rearranging to do. I can sense that she is somewhat detached from the conversation and I'm not sure why. As we continue the tour, walking past large velvet covereed chairs in a lush marroon and heavy mahogany wood, until we reach a table where my mother has several crystal bowls and dishes and piles of candy. She flicks one plate shaped like a large maple leaf and says that there are a lot of things that must go. I wonder if she means that she is going to get rid of the leaf plate and, if so, if she might not give it to me because I think it is beautiful but before I can say anything, she begins sweeping everything into a large garbage bag. I am dismayed but I say nothing. Then she abruptly tells me that I need to leave. At the door she gets tears in her eyes, explains to me that she was talking to a friend of hers or a counselor, and that she/he advised her to stop seeing me for a while. She goes on to say that she's been told that she needs to work through some things, that our relationship is not healthy for her. I leave, slightly stunned by what she has said. I don't even protest although I feel like I should. There are a group of women sitting around the door of the apartment right next to my mother's. They are having a Bible study. One of the women looks at me with blatant hostility. I am about to ask them what they know about the situation when another of the women makes it clear that I am not welcome any longer and another says "Good riddance to bad rubbish." I leave and return to a hotel room where I have two canes I use to help me walk. First one cane starts collapsing in on itself, getting shorter. Then the other does the same. I realize that I am walking better with them shorter anyway but then the one on my right collapses again making it too short to be of use to me.