I was taken aback by a flash of anger about a cat he ditched almost fifty years ago, but let it go, because what I really heard was part of a deathbed confession. Dad’s cancer brought back memories filled with regret for his behavior from long ago, and now, with so little time left, he wanted to come clean about as much as he could remember. My flying to Germany wasn’t just to look after him in his frail health, as I expected to do, but was really to meet his lifelong companion and hear him rid himself of the last of his secrets.
