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

to be loved.

I could not tell her that. I did not know.

I called Ernesto from my hospital room on the sixth day. I made the call while Lucía was in the corridor speaking with a nurse, because I did not want her to hear the conversation until I had thought through what I was asking. Ernesto is seventy-three, two years older than me, and has been both continue reading …