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

like things growing, which is not a smell you get in hospitals or in cities, and something in my chest that had been very tight since I woke up began, very slowly, to loosen.

Lucía sat nearby with her coffee and did not try to fill the silence. That is one of the things I have always loved most about her.

“Maybe we gave them everything,” I said eventually,continue reading …