The night at the end of Christmas is always hoarse and muffled.  My mother fell asleep during “Notting Hill,” which was one of her gifts.  Because Monique was there, the overflowing trash got immediately evicted.  We still had lights, wreaths, and a poinsettia on the mantle, but the shiny paper and ribbons were out.  Next […]

The emergency room wasn’t the panicky place I expected—there were no red buttons, wailing alerts, or breathing machines huffing. There was just my mother on a bedlike contraption, with a blue bag on her elevated knee.  A loose curtain on metal hooks was drawn to separate her from everyone, though the next exam space was […]

I was setting another table, in another dining room, when I heard my father on the phone with the hospital. I had been playing Risk with Jerry, who always got to be red, Jerry,who always won.  We had played ten times in the last week.  The game had been a Christmas present, but overlooked in […]