The Tree of Forgetfulness (2012)
““Papa,” she whispers, as though Papa were a saint’s name, like the name he’d taken at Confirmation: Stephen, the church’s first martyr.
“Get some rest, my love, you’ll feel better in the morning,” Libba says slowly, softly, as if she were calming a child. Her lips brush his forehead; her hand smooths his hair. Fresh air and sunshine, optimism, exercise, and rest: these are Libba’s prescriptions for health and well-being. At home he likes to tease her and Cecile while they touch their toes twent...y-five times in front of an open window. Sometimes Cecile flounces off, and Libba scolds him: “Can’t you stop, Howard? You always go too far.” He wants to promise her that when he comes home well and strong he will never tease either of his girls again; he will take everything they do and say seriously.
If they are leaving, it must be night. “Don’t go,” he says, but they go anyway; everybody leaves except for Lewis’s daughter, the curious grandchild. When the door closes behind them, he lets out the breath it seems he’s been holding all day.MoreLess
“Get some rest, my love, you’ll feel better in the morning,” Libba says slowly, softly, as if she were calming a child. Her lips brush his forehead; her hand smooths his hair. Fresh air and sunshine, optimism, exercise, and rest: these are Libba’s prescriptions for health and well-being. At home he likes to tease her and Cecile while they touch their toes twent...y-five times in front of an open window. Sometimes Cecile flounces off, and Libba scolds him: “Can’t you stop, Howard? You always go too far.” He wants to promise her that when he comes home well and strong he will never tease either of his girls again; he will take everything they do and say seriously.
If they are leaving, it must be night. “Don’t go,” he says, but they go anyway; everybody leaves except for Lewis’s daughter, the curious grandchild. When the door closes behind them, he lets out the breath it seems he’s been holding all day.MoreLess
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