I Left My House Empty Three Days Before Christmas

said. “But if you come, you come to visit. Not to hand me work.”

She was quiet.

Then, “Okay.”

“And Diane.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re doing the cooking next Christmas.”

She made a strangled sound that might’ve been a laugh or despair.

“Mom.”

“Start practicing.”

Going Back Different

I came home on the twenty-sixth.

The house was exactly how I’d left it. Clean. Lit. Quiet.continue reading …