I call him Spot because I’m clever. And original. Spot has no spots. (Spotless Spot.) What he has is long, white synthetic hair (hypoallergenic), which streams down the sides of his small body in locks longer than my own…

Mom has a curious way of moving about the kitchen, hovering over each ingredient as if her distance will provoke their disappearance. She threw the ham in the oven about an hour ago…

I am six years old, and I am sitting on the long, concrete slab of my grandparents’ driveway with my knees tucked into my chest. It is summertime in Fruitland Park, Florida, and the pavement is hot. My skin absorbs its fever…

The last thing I ever say to my grandfather is, See you next month. I call this out to him as he lays in the ruffled twin bed of the memory care facility he has been staying in for the past three months. He is frail, has lost most of the military muscle…