Conversations

when my mother died

he said,

we were lucky to have her

as long as we did

surely, I thought

9 years later

we spread her ashes in the sea

and he mused,

it's over for me, I just want closure

what is closure, I wondered

on a winter afternoon

he confided,

she was so much more successful than me, I think she was disappointed

yes, I answered silently

3 days before the sheriff came to seal the doors of the house

he asked me to sit and said,

I've lost the house

if you had told us, I sputtered

over dinner

he told me

he started drinking wine in the sacristy at 11 years old

why, the word formed mute in my mouth