The Names

by Florence Knapp

he thinks of the Fathers, the abused choir boys, the unmarried mothers forced to give up their babies. The men who beat their wives and then head to the confession box for absolution. And he wants no part of it.

religion

they are already absorbed in a conversation that will continue to slowly unspool across all the years they have left.

finding your person

contempt being the most corrosive thing in a relationship,

he learned that their mother grew herbs on the kitchen windowsill; wore silver, not gold; made up stories about a gecko who lived on the bathroom ceiling to encourage him to keep his head tipped back at hair-washing time.

“Summer’s my favorite day in Ireland.”