WEBVTT

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The Mother.

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In her early old age,
the mother's toenails

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curl over her toes so that when
she walks across the kitchen

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floor, some click.

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The doctor has warned
her for the third time

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that her legs will ulcerate
if she doesn't rub moisturizer

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into them, so unwilling is
she to touch her own body

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or to care for it.

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The same woman who stood many
nights at the foot of the attic

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stairs as her husband
weaved and stammered up

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into the room where
her daughter slept.

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On the landing, in her bathrobe,
by the laundry chute, unmoving.

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Like a statue in the children's
game her children play.

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And now the soft drone
of her daughter's

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waking voice, reasoning, and
rising, and the first slap.

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And the scrape of
her son's chair

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pushed back from his
desk, the air thick

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now with their
separate listening.

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And again, the girl's
voice now quietly

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weeping and the
creak of her bed.

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In the game, someone has
to touch you to free you.

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Then you're human again.

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