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Cold I go cold and I slightly bend over to wash away the shock

The wo an elderly lady into a chair that’s next to a hospital bed She’s old Very old Almost like she’d dissolved into dust with a touch White hair pinned into a bun on the top of her head She wears a sweater and a long nightgown and she has this vacant stare that causes an ache

I know that stare After Grandpa broke his hip, he wore that stare For months For too many months And then he died

"Are you cold, Ms Lynn?" The woet another blanket for you"

"I need to pick Abby up froile As if she’s talking frorabs the wonition in her eyes as she makes eye contact with her caretaker "Can you pick Abby up frootten and I’et scared and cry if I’m not there to pick her up"

Pain strikes my heart hard and fast and I jerk with the impact

"It’s summer," Nadia replies "Abby’s not in school"

And Abby’s too old to be picked up and, if she wasn’t, it’s hard to iine an Abby that’s not hell on wheels and independent

Ms Lynn’s forehead wrinkles "Then where is she? It’s three Abby should be ho up speed, and the worry that causes nizable in her tone Nadia looks over at ins to chime

One

Two

Three

Three pive the envelope at three

My feet feel like they’re cemented in concrete as I force theht "This yours?"