She Returned Home For Christmas Only To Discover Her Family Had Already Left Without Her

looked at his hand in mine. The skin was thin, the veins raised, the knuckles swollen from arthritis. That hand had baited hooks for me, held my bike seat while I learned balance, slipped twenty-dollar bills into my birthday cards, waved from the bleachers at my high school graduation, saluted me with trembling pride when I came home from boot camp.continue reading …