My Sister Signed Papers Before I Was Dead

work, and aged ten years in one summer. He wrote me letters. Actual paper letters. Tight handwriting, black ink, no jokes.

I read the first one in August.

It began, “Claire, I failed you.”

I put it in the drawer and didn’t answer for three weeks.

Then I wrote back one sentence.

“I know.”

Mom came to rehab twice. The first time, she brought lilies, which continue reading …