Tag: #baby
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8. Clocks On The Walls
May 2021 Beth plays with her fingers while I fold laundry on our bed. Tiny socks and onesies form a neat line on my blue sheets. Jane has glued herself to her sister’s side and is singing a song, making it up along the way, kissing Beth’s toes in between stanzas about monkeys on a…
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7. Books & Blood
Henry owns a bookstore in my hometown. It is beautiful inside. Books and records and art await your senses. In my twenties, I would linger in the quieter aisles, brushing the spines of books with my fingers and glancing at pages while we tested each other’s boundaries, waiting for Henry to close the store. Then…
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6. Cliff-Diving
Where to go next. How honest to be. When I stare at my face in a mirror, it seems stiff. Frozen where it is usually at ease. It’s been six months of controlling the message. Keep it silent. Keep it secret. Until finally, I let every word spill from my lips. Adam is stone and…
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5. Three Birds
May 2021 Beth rests against my shoulder. I walk to the lake, swaying a gentle dance through the grass. Her blue eyes are almost closed. I see my grandfather in her eyes and my grandmother in her smile. Both girls have Adam’s ears and my large round eyes, though mine are brown. Beth’s hair is…
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3. Clay Pots
May 2021 Caroline, Adam, Jane, Beth, Atticus — a family. No, I tell myself. We are a family. The set is complete. Leave it be. Not now. Henry’s hands stay on my mind. They torture me as I cut and pack apples and carrots and throw goldfish and a peanut butter sandwich into a box…
A Story For Us To Remember When We Are Old. © Laura Coughlin 2023 