She has a path through the kitchen when she’s cooking something that takes a while, and tonight I watched the whole thing from the doorway without once getting up, which I consider a genuine accomplishment given how long it went on. It goes: stove, counter, sink, back to stove. Sometimes the fridge gets added in, … Read more
She carried the basket in from the hallway the way she always does, tipped against one hip, and I was on the bed before she’d even set it down. This is not something I plan in advance. There is no moment where I decide to do it. My body simply understands, the second I hear … Read more
She keeps the comb in the drawer by the bathroom sink, the one with the blue handle and the wide-spaced teeth, and when it comes out I know exactly what is about to happen to me, and I allow it, because I have decided over time that this is one of the few procedures in … Read more
She was washing the kitchen windows today, which is a task I have never once seen her enjoy but which she does anyway, with a blue bottle and a gray cloth that smells sharp enough to make my nose twitch from across the room. I don’t understand the purpose of it. The windows always look … Read more
The light came in wrong today. Not wrong exactly — it came in fine, pale and a little gray at first the way it always does before it warms up — but it kept coming and coming and nothing happened underneath it. Usually by the time the light has gotten that particular buttery thickness on … Read more
There is a sound a certain bag makes. I have known it for a long time. It is not the sound of the food bag, which is a heavier crinkle, more of a slump, because the food bag is mostly full and doesn’t move much when it’s touched. It is not the sound of the … Read more
There is a moment every night that I have never once managed to skip ahead of, no matter how I position myself beforehand. It happens after she puts the book down. The book goes on the little table on her side, spine cracked open to whatever page she stopped on, always face-down, which I’ve come … Read more
Something was wrong with her today and I want it on the record that I noticed immediately, before the sighing even started, back when she was still just standing at the counter holding her phone like it had personally disappointed her. I have a very good nose for the ordinary chemistry of the house — … Read more
