The Tuxedo Goodbye: A Father’s Last Dance Before the Monitor Went Silent

turns into a whine. Continuous. Flat. Infinite.

The song isn’t over, but the dance is.

I hold her one last time, tight, tight enough to maybe pass my own breath into her lungs. Then, I lower her gently onto the pillow. I smooth her hair. I silence the music. The silence falls like a guillotine.

I stand up straight. I fix my bow tie in the mirror over continue reading …