She’s 97. Sharp as ever, stuck in that wheelchair after the fall. We visit once a week, perhaps twice. But lately, it’s not us she’s been waiting for—it’s the dog.

He’s not part of the facility’s therapy program. No vest, no handler. He appears at 3:40 p.m. precisely, sits by her door like he owns the place, and lets her rest her hand on his head as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.

The staff say they’ve never seen him enter. He doesn’t eat, doesn’t bark, merely waits.

The most peculiar aspect is what she says to him.

Last Tuesday, I caught her whispering, “Colonel, you’re late. The envelope went to the wrong sister.”

I laughed, thinking it was a memory slip—she only had one sister.

But then she looked straight at me and said, “I meant the sisterhood. The other V.”

She tugged the corner of her lap blanket. Embroidered on it, by her knee, was a single letter: V.

I thought it was her monogram.

But today, when the dog left, I followed him. Down the hallway, past the nurses’ lounge, to a stairwell no one uses.....