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I pull intotheton for the weekend Both of the weekend trips to the coast I’

I rab today’s mail for them before I leave and head into the Siive just a short knock to announce ht in

“It’s h to drift up the stairs

“Come on up,” Brenda responds I can tell froht echo that she’s in the kitchen They have a big skylight over the sink area and over the years, I’ve conize the way voices carry from that part of the house

I co to the hospital bed in theroom Jim is in it, and I’m struck by how saht to watch Rafe play, and Brenda was so happy with hoell he did He insisted on walking, declining the use of the wheelchair that had been supplied by hospice

But now I can see hi deeply, undisturbed bysound, and his chest rises and falls deeply

I look away andout a cup Her gaze lands on me, and I see the worry there

He was good yesterday, and now today

“This is typical,” I reoing to have good and bad days The hospice nurse was very clear about that and soon, the bad will outnuood days and treasure them”

Her eyes mist up, and she nods

“Where’s Rafe?” I ask her Since they clinched this round of the playoffs, he has the next four days off, and I just assumed he’d be by his dad’s side

Brenda’s gaze shifts to peer out theover the sink that overlooks the back yard “He’s out there, weeding”

I lass doors on the other side of the sh, Rafe is on his hands and knees in one of Brenda’s flowerbeds, now only sporting daffodils that lost their blooine Brenda hasn’t been in nosis

I study Rafe

We’ve been apart for eight years, and yet I clearly recognize the frustration and anger in his posture The way his upper back is hunched, shoulders dipped and frozen in place His plucking at the weeds is stiff and mechanical