The man’s nails dig into my skin, leaving angry red crescents alongside the needle marks in my arms. My feet are folded under me, scraping against the floor as he drags me forward. The man is over six feet tall with a shaved head and stubble on his face, and he reeks of cigarettes. He […]
Fiction: Sophie Knows When James’ Mother Washes His Ears
Right after his bath, she dries him and then gets a Q-tip so there’s wax in his ear canal to stop her, Sophie, a brown recluse spider, as she climbs down his left ear because he sleeps on his right. Sophie finds his ear canal much warmer than the cardboard in the basement, and it’s […]
Fiction: Vanessa Hoffman’s Conversations on Life and Living and Death and Dying: Section Fourteen by Victor Kreuiter
She died at home two days later. Her mother and father and brothers were with her. Hannah Madison, who was not present, would weep for days. Paul Hoffman insisted, his wife silent and unsteady and distraught, that his daughter be buried sans casket, deep in the ground in the manner she’d asked for. It took […]
Fiction: Vanessa Hoffman’s Conversations on Life and Living and Death and Dying: Section Thirteen by Victor Kreuiter
A month later Vanessa Hoffman went back into the hospital. Old meds faltered and new medications were tried. She was connected to machines again and monitored twenty-four hours a day. Days became nights and nights became days and the hours ticked by and nurses were on and off duty and doctors came and went and […]
Fiction: Vanessa Hoffman’s Conversations on Life and Living and Death and Dying: Section Twelve Part Two by Victor Kreuiter
“You’re saying memory is cumulative,” her uncle said. “That it? You’re saying remembering changes your memory. Changes the memory. Is that it?” “Yes!” She rolled her head around, took in a deep breath. “Exactly.” She turned to her left, looked at her uncle, nodded, and smiled. “You said it better than I did.” Her uncle […]
Fiction: Vanessa Hoffman’s Conversations on Life and Living and Death and Dying: Section Twelve Part One by Victor Kreuiter
They were on the front porch of the Hoffman home, just the two of them, Vanessa in a chaise lounge – it was bought and put there for her and her only – and her uncle, Bill Piatkowski, seated in an outdoor rocker. “Are you up to date?” she asked him. She was carrying around […]
Fiction: Vanessa Hoffman’s Conversations on Life and Living and Death and Dying: Section Eleven by Victor Kreuiter
Wouldn’t you know it? After end-of-life conversations with parents and siblings, with a doctor and a priest and nurses, after discussing life and the afterlife, the existence of God, burial rites and family history, Vanessa’s cancer went into remission. Spending her final night – this time – in the hospital, Vanessa shared a conversation with […]
Fiction: Vanessa Hoffman’s Conversations on Life and Living and Death and Dying: Section Ten by Victor Kreuiter
“Let’s not talk just yet,” Vanessa said. She was scrunched up, on her side again, legs pulled up, a sheet pulled to her chin and held there by pale hands. Hannah had talked with Taylor multiple times about visiting Vanessa. She wanted to go, was afraid she was intruding – meddling – and hadn’t a […]
Fiction: Vanessa Hoffman’s Conversations on Life and Living and Death and Dying: Section Nine Part Two by Victor Kreuiter
He remembered picking her up–Vanessa, a toddler–and carrying her, and she squirmed like crazy, wanting down. He put her down and watched her wobble, wearing that determined, toddler-hell-bent-on-walking look. He remembered her hitting the dirt, looking up, checking with him, and he looked down and said, “You’re okay. It’s just a fall. You wanted to […]