Perhaps I did nothing because I don’t have enough fear to be a good parent.

It’s not like I shoot it!”A plastic ballerina pops up and slowly twirls to a tinkling song whose sound is discordant and deformed. The pink satin liner is dirty, and other than a black pearl...

Oh, yeah. That’s Scottie. She’s a riot.

I drift off for a while. I don’t know how long, but when I open my eyes, the Oscars are still on and Alex tells me that Sid has gone and this makes me a...

We can walk to town.”How do mothers manage to bring everything a child could need?

I lean down so that my face is right in front of hers and whisper, ‘He doesn’t love you. I love you.

Thank you very much,” Scottie said, and for some reason, the fact that I didn’t get this made me feel completely besieged. It’s crazy how much fathers are supposed to know these days. I come...

This could give me bird flu,” and then she forms a circle around her mouth with her hand and makes trumpet noises. She’s nuts. Who knows what’s going on in that head of hers, and...

Why is it so hard to articulate love yet so easy to express disappointment?

We continue to eat, the conversation easy and flowing. I listen to everything everyone says, an urgency to pay attention, to not miss these moments you don’t know are moments until they’re gone. I narrow...

The hospital will have ointments and ice,” she says.

I’ll never be ready. Yet at the same time, you always want to reach the end. You can’t fly to a destination and linger in the air. I want to reach the end of this...

We walk until there aren’t more houses, all the way to the part of the beach where the current makes the waves come in then rush back out so that the two waves clash, water...

Damn straight.” My heart feels like one of Scottie’s clogs clomping down the hall. I don’t know why I became so angry.

A sea of red lights, and I slow down. My job now is to gather everyone together and tell them we have to let her go. I won’t tell anyone over the phone, because I...

I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t give you everything you wanted. I wasn’t everything you wanted. You were everything I wanted.

She’ll think we’re going on a trip of some sort. I want to get her away from here.

I like the way men cry. They’re efficient.

I’m sorry, I say. I didn’t give you everything you wanted. I wasn’t everything you wanted. You were everything I wanted.

Deal.

I think grief and fear are going to come to him suddenly. They’ll be undiluted and words won’t work. We’re all going to get hit and won’t know how to hit back. I wish I...

Will it? I mean, look at how you kids talk. In front of me, especially. It’s like you don’t respect authority.”The kids stare at the television. I tell them to get out. I’m going to...

And I love small boobs, too, Alex. I’m an equal-opportunity employer.

I picture Cully tromping through that high, deep snow. That’s how I feel physically from all of this. Moving through grief like it’s a thick drift, exhausting but enlivening. It makes your muscles ache. It...

We don’t treat each other very well, I suppose. Even from the start. It was as though we had the seven-year itch the day we met. The day she went into a coma, I heard...

I tell Esther she should ease up on lard. There’s no need to mix lard in with Scottie’s rice, chicken, and beans. I tell her she hasn’t read the blogs. I’ve read the blogs. I...

Bye!” she yells.I grab her arm. I could yell at her for wanting to leave, but I don’t. She pulls her arm out of my grasp. I look up to see if anyone is watching...