Three Days Before the Casket Was Delivered, My Son Asked Me to Sign a Document

The plastic had cracked along one corner.

I wiped the screen on my sleeve and held the button down until it lit up green.

I stayed down on the ground for a minute with it in my hand and the damp soaking through my slacks, thinking about the pink slip in the sideboard.

Then I got up, drove home, and laid the pink slip on the kitchen table under the light.

The fever monitor came out of the wet leaves with a crackle, its tiny green screen still blinking.