My Children Came Back to the Hospital Pretending to Care but My Bed Was Already Empty

and took my hand and waited longer, the way she has always known how to wait.

I told her on the fifth evening.

I told her quietly, because speaking still cost me something, and I kept my eyes on the window while I said it, because I could not look at her face while I described what I had heard. I told her about the house, about the figures, about the continue reading …