“Beth, have you ever seen a dead body?”
I could wreck this person’s day with my tale.
I am stoic.
My face will not betray me.
“No.”

The clock has started.
In a few hours she’ll be in the hospital
Hoping to eat… hoping to sleep…
“I’m cold”
I get her a blanket
We wait

The moment I live in begins now.
I open the forbidden door of this memory wider.
Leaning against the doorframe.
I watch.
Alone.