My Father Said I Was An Accident At A Family Barbecue Until I Responded

sitting in my Civic in the hospital parking lot with a cold coffee in the cup holder when my mother’s name lit up my phone.

Pancreatic cancer. Stage three.

She said it the way she said everything difficult. Quietly, like she was apologizing for the inconvenience.

I drove straight home, two hours on the interstate, and when I got there my father was in continue reading …