My Sister Called to Say Mom Had Died, While Mom Was Standing Right Beside Me

in open caskets, three-day viewings, church ladies humming hymns as they adjusted floral arrangements, and a body present because a life mattered. Mama had nightmares about fire. She refused to even light sparklers on July Fourth. There was no world in which she requested cremation.

I tapped my phone and switched to speaker.

Mama’s movements slowed, continue reading …