A smile was not the reaction I had when I saw Lilibeth standing there, but it was Ziggy’s. I’m not sure he smiled because he was putting on a front for her or if he was truly delighted that now he wouldn’t be bored. Or both. I know. Or both. “Lilibeth Marks, I do declare,” […]
Court and I were sitting at Claire’s bedside while she took one of her opiate-induced naps. Let’s just say it was the next day, but the days were really running together for me. I mean, even more than usual. I’m pretty sure I was the one who started the conversation. “So. Ziggy thinks I’m obsessed […]
The next day was Courtney’s graduation ceremony. You know how people in Hollywood use the word “film” instead of “movie”? People in academia–at least in Boston– don’t use the word graduation. They use the word “commencement.” I’d never really thought about it before, until I saw and heard the word a hundred times in those […]
We arrived in Boston in the morning before Courtney’s graduation. That night there was going to be some kind of reception she wanted me to be at if possible, but that was way in the future compared to the logistical task of getting us from airplane to taxi. I should probably tell you what Claire […]
I gotta wonder if my mother’s life would have been different if she had lived it all along like she was worried what people would think of her after she was gone. Not that I think everyone should go around thinking about death all the time. Far from it. But I suppose there’s a fine […]
When I wasn’t in the room, Janine and Claire did have either some kind of heart-to-heart or a fight–I don’t know which because neither of them said. When Janine left Claire pretended to be asleep (again?) but she was snuffle-crying, which made it a hard act to believe. I took it as a sign she […]
The next thing on my to-do list for that day, other than obsessing about Ziggy or my career, was tell Claire about the rental. Now, she knew I was looking at the listings; she had looked through them with me. And she had known I was going to look at a place. Obviously I was […]
(As promised, I’ve taken inventory of the T-shirts remaining, by the way. See the swag post. Every order before December 1st will get a bonus red DGC notebook! -ctan) — The night clerk’s name was Ricky, by the way, and he was still in high school, but he only did a half day and then […]
I want you to understand what I was going through, but I didn’t understand it myself, and I still don’t. So I’ll just tell you what was happening and maybe you can figure it out. I don’t mean what was happening logistically: what had happened in that realm was I had become the person Claire […]
We didn’t leave right away. I pulled myself together and washed my face again and we stayed until Landon had fallen asleep on the couch. He was completely worn out and so was I, but for different reasons. Janine tried to wake him up and it didn’t work, and Remo ended up carrying him upstairs […]