My Grandfather Left Me Only An Envelope Until I Landed In London And A Driver Was Waiting With My Name

in the margins, underlined sometimes, boxed other times:

Leave no one behind.

I read until the light changed. Tucked into the back of one volume was a photograph: my grandfather standing beside a much younger Queen Elizabeth, both in military settings, both smiling in the way of people who have survived something together and therefore understand each continue reading …