CNU-My daughter-in-law said Christmas would be easier if I stayed away, and my son did not even raise his eyes to defend me. So I stayed home, alone, exactly as requested. …

stove while Vincent and I played cards by lantern light. I told them about their father learning, before he forgot and had to learn it again the hardest possible way, that what you do when no one claps matters more than how you look when they do.

The children listened.

Scout snored.

The fire settled.

Outside, the lake moved through darkness the way it continue reading …