On the Rocking Chair, or For 51 Years

It started three years ago. She would just forget simple things. Then she’d forget more and more, and then the doctors said that she’d soon remember practically nothing. In her case it went particularly fast. I had known her for 51 years. I knew no one as well as her, and she knew no one as well as me. And then, one day, she told me to get off her porch ‘cause she didn’t want strangers lurking around the house. And that was that. What can I tell you? Maybe you have to become this old to understand. Or just see someone you love go crazy. Anyway, I don’t go to the porch anymore. I just leave her there by herself. On the rocking chair.

(2003)