Jackson Fischer

All I ever knew about my grandmother was that my father ran away from home when he was 15 and he almost never had any real contact with her after that.

Growing up, I got a birthday card in the mail from her every few years, but I never saw her.

Not even once.

One day, when I was about 10, I guess, I asked one too many questions.

And my mother sat me down, said that my grandma was a good person, but she had a certain kind of compulsion.

And dad thought it wasn't healthy to be around someone like that.

Apparently, she had almost died a couple of times because of it.

That was it.

That was all the info I got.

I was just left wondering all my life.

You know, you're a kid.

You've got other stuff on your mind.

I was afraid to ask my dad about it.

But back in 1992, my fiancé pointed out an article in the paper talking about someone named Audrey Verdon.

Well, she had just gotten arrested for breaking and entering and theft at the Fullerton campus that was near me.

She said...

That can't be your grandmother, can it?

And I said, no, because I'd always been told she'd moved to Canada with her second or third husband, whichever it was.

I don't remember.

When I wound up looking into it, I did some research.