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Anyone with half a brain could tell he didn‘t have his heart in it when it came to women‖

Me: ―I know, but what I can say? I was in love‖

Mom: ― Jenna--‖

Dad: ―I think it‘s pretty funny‖

Mom: ―He‘s not your father‖

Dad: ―Thank God for that‖

Grandpa: ―I am not deaf, Stewart, thank you very much‖

Dad: ―Glad to hear it, Max, but my name‘s Elliot Max, what year is it?‖

Mo?‖

Dad: ―What day?‖

Mo hiht you‘d trip me up‖

Dad: ―You‘re sharp as a tack, Max‖

Grandpa: ―Daht And, Stewart, don‘t think for one second I don‘t know you voted for that daht-bubble): Told you

Grandpa: ―S with a ho--‖

Moot to be going‖

Come to think of it, Bob, maybe Grandpa and Grandma deserved each other

c

While Mom went to coood-bye

Only when I got close, Grandpa‘s eyes sharpened and I kneas seeing , you‘re my little sweetheart‖ His breath reeked of ancient tobacco, that s, and chest rot ―You corandpa anytirab but came up short

―Sure‖

And then ere out of there, Dad peeling off to go break it up between Mom and the nurses while I ducked into the bathroom The toilets sher off the ground and handicap-equipped I huddled on a seat and clasped my arms around my stomach If I‘d been at a computer, I‘d have e-mailed Matt, which someti and rafts burned as raw and fiery as they had when they were new (Merafted sites kill, but the donor sites hurt asI was on fire, in one way or another, for a good year and a half)

The h, but I had to, I had to That patch of unbleood

Yeah, yeah, co and twisting, the skin trying to jump out of the way Cold sweat pearled my upper lip, and a bead crawled down the back of rafts He touched : No, don’t you do it)

Finally, a red bead oozed and ballooned, and I sighed with relief as my blood bubbled and drew out the poison that was Grandpa

There was this other cutter back on the ward She etched words and letters But I didn‘t

Honestly, Bob: how do you carve a scream?

11: a

My parents started in as soon as we pulled out of the lot

Mom: ―Well, that wasn‘t so bad, was it?‖

She said this every tiht ahead and let the silence spin out

Moree): ―I thought he looked much better this time around‖

Dad: ―He was thinner and more confused, Emily His tremor is worse and he‘s clearly not oriented You should make him a DNR‖

Mom: ―That‘s not what he wants‖

Dad: <mumble>

Mom: ―I didn‘t catch that‖

Dad: <silence>

Mo all of us a favor if you‘d change his status to a DNR

That last stroke would‘ve killed him but, no, you had to pull out all the stops Eo‖

Morunting a laugh): ―That‘s rich‖

Mom: ―What did you say? What the hell did you just say?‖