Under the Arch

My Grandmother is crazy. She's mean and she's cruel and she's not someone I've wanted anything to do with for years now. Over the last couple of years she has slowly descended into her own version of dementia, while taking my parents along for the ride. Thanksgiving was a treat, let me tell ya. My father is now terrified that this is the fate that awaits him and I fear for that too.
Thanksgiving morning, my grandfather called my dad to tell him that grandmother had taken off down the road on foot. After driving like a bat out of hell, he found her in one of the neighbor's yards with her dog sitting on the ground. (I think the high here was 36 on thursday) She refused to get up or go home, because she said my grandfather had broken her tv. (we later found out she had unplugged it for some reason) Meanwhile, one of the neighbors had called the police and an officer showed up to investigate. My dad talked her into walking back to her home with the officer by explaining to her that the officer would be able to file a report about stolen dolls. (no dolls were actually stolen, but she is convinced that the caregivers my parents hired to keep an eye on her have stolen from her)
She's been making stuff up like this for years, but now she's so far gone that she believes her own bullshit. My parents have seen a lawyer, but she's not gone enough mentally to commit her to a nursing home without her consent, which she would never give. I dread the day that she wonders into the highway and causes an accident. She's a danger to herself and others, but there's very little that can be done at this point. I don't feel sorry for her, and maybe that's a mark against me, but she has never been the sort of woman who made it comfortable to be around her or married to her son, and I deeply resent her for the pain she has caused my mother over the years. If that's not enough, my nephew is four. Last week, he came up to my sister and asked why grandmother said that his cousin Ashlin is bad. "She's not bad," he said, "Why did grandma say that?" How can you expose a child to that? The whole situation is sad and pathetic and makes me so angry.