“Dad? Can you hear me? Do you know if he can hear us?” “I always say to my patients’ families: assume they can. Even if it doesn’t register so well, assume there’s a comfort in hearing your loved ones.” It… Continue Reading
Tom hardly noticed the old man. Nothing was unusual about someone sitting by the side of the bike path and enjoying the bright sunshine of the late spring day. But the man raised his head and called out, “Is this… Continue Reading
Your great-grandson Justin is coming over. You pull out the secret candy stash, hidden from your daughter who worries after your diabetes. Your hands creak and crack as you shuffle cards onto the spotless oak table Jack bought you. The… Continue Reading
During my previous visit to Houston’s Neurosurgery Center the doctor said the procedure would triple my life expectancy, but I’d forget most things. “Sepia tones,” she said when I asked what memories would look like. “Photographs bleeding color until they’re… Continue Reading
Louise arrived late for her second homecare client of the day. At fifty-nine, she might be on the cusp of elderly herself. The beginning of spring marked her fifth year of employment with in-home care. She hadn’t missed teaching art… Continue Reading
“Grandpa, tell us the story!” Myles demanded. “Yeah! The story!” Emma added. Charlie Grafton sat with his grandkids in his empty second-storey bedroom. He eyed the younglings through thick glasses. “What story?” From the base of the ladder out in… Continue Reading
Innocent? Ha! If actions speak louder than words, she was loud and proud. Finally! Her children teased her about being a pushover, but not this time. This time she’d gotten it right. She was sure of it. Well, she’d been… Continue Reading
Isabella rises at first light, as always. Fifty years in the same house. Seventy years with the same man, now passed. Nine children. Four boys, four girls, living. One boy dead. Drowned. Or was it a fire? “Aye,” she whispers,… Continue Reading
Juanita eases the old woman into the rocker, its tiny nails tightly securing the branches and twigs that form its construction. The slats of the chairback shape the old woman’s spine, sitting her as straight as she’d been, so many… Continue Reading
Before Norman went to college, he’d never been out of the Bronx, and even during his undergraduate years he rarely ventured south of the City College campus. It was an uncle, his mother’s older brother, who found him the lead. … Continue Reading