Chapter 3 — She Did This to Herself

I dropped my bags in the dirt and went to her, and I gently lifted the knitted cap from her head, and I understood, without a word being spoken, that something was very wrong.

I will not describe what I saw.

It is enough to say that my wife had been unwell, badly, for a long time, and that no one in that house had cared for her.

My mother, Patricia, came out onto the porch, dressed in silk and gold jewelry, looking like a woman who had denied herself nothing.

My sister Brenda followed, scrolling a brand-new phone, a designer purse on her arm.