he was reading beside her bed

he was reading a book he gave to her on her birthday when she was in college they drove up to spend the afternoon take her out to dinner and then spend the night on her apartment floor in the morning she had to leave for a competition

but it was her birthday

theyd steal whatever time they could

the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee had short parts he could read one and look up and see that she was still asleep she catnapped hadnt truly slept in threefour months she couldnt lay down sat at a seventydegree angle

he read one put his finger between the pages to hold his place

                                                                   then read again

she woke in tenfifteen minutes in a sudden gasplunge lurch that shed been waking like of late 

Easy baby easy sweetheart Im hereright here he took her hand shegrabbed his

                                                                                       Im here Youre here I love you

he told her he loved her every time he had a chance

she couldnt speak

her eyes grew big

                   she said I love you with her eyes

she looked at the book in his hand over the ventilator mask she wore 

her eyes asked what he was reading

he held it up his finger still in it 

her eyes grew large again she nodded it was a favourite of hers

I found a short piece I wanted to read to you

she nodded

she released his hand  he took the book in both of his  cleared his throat  he steeled himself so he didnt cry

Chief Crowfoot

                 he died on her birthday in 1890

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, it is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

he couldnt raise his head immediatelycouldnt look in her eyes afraid of what his daughter would see in his  

when he finally looked through his tears she had tears in her eyes

Beautifulhuh he croaked

her eyes shone Yes

he croaked again Almost as beautiful as you I love you so very much

she motioned to his hand

she could hardly move her arm

he took her hand

she squeezed his hand he squeezed hers back

they didnt  they didnt let go of each other for a long time

0744,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  2  10. 19

2258,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  8  4. 20