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
