It’s always a struggle first thing in the morning. These stiff, arthritic knees take time to warm up, to loosen, to bend. I’m out of bed now and moving around. The nurses in the home tell me that there are… Continue Reading
New Year’s Eve afternoon. Like life — uncertain, threatening. Maybe it will snow, maybe it won’t. Rain? Freeze? Maybe the sun will come out. Ha. I’m walking to the market, not because we need anything but because “exercise is good… Continue Reading
They got this sign hanging in the social room, cute, with a picture of a beat-up but well-loved children’s teddy bear. Says on it, “Everybody loves fat old wrinkled teddy bears.” We’re supposed to think of us, cause a lot… Continue Reading
The clock strikes five. I run a finger down the window pane through the condensation. Outside, the unseasonably warm winter winds bustle through the trees, and naked branches dance and sing in the last sad throes of death. They say… Continue Reading
Drew was already naked when he took his place on her husband’s side of the bed. The room was dim as the drawn blinds allowed only a halo of the morning light. He moved his hand along her arm, and… Continue Reading
Doris is in her seventies, something she always thought could only happen to old people. She is becoming increasingly forgetful and is beginning to worry about it. Her main problem seems to be in recalling names. Today, the view from… Continue Reading
As Dave lowered his head, she swiped her hand across his face. Fingernails scored his skin, and he felt blood on his cheek. Her face showed no emotion. Her eyes, deep in the dark shadows of her sallow complexion, were… Continue Reading
Deirdre flexed her arthritic fingers. Today they’d have to do exercises to move their hands. She wheeled up to the door and shut it. Craft Day could stay outside. A moment later, Gerlinde knocked and walked in. Tall, square-jawed, fine… Continue Reading
I admit to looking down on them. Old men, stooping, dragging their miserable bodies and depressing outlooks into the paths of those still drinking life. The embers of their fading passion spent on letters to local papers complaining about technological… Continue Reading
“Our health plan doesn’t cover this.” “I know, but it’s the only hope you’ve got. The doctors are saying that it’s a serious case, that your liver will fail within weeks and that you’ll lose brain function with it. It’s… Continue Reading