The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old

by Hendrik Groen

The Netherlands is a segregated society: white sticks with white, the Turks stick with the Turks, the poor stick with the poor, the ignorant stick with the ignorant.

Reading about cute American five-year-olds who on their birthdays are presented with their first pink gun, “My First Rifle,” complete with real bullets, made me wonder if in American nursing homes the oldies walk around packing loaded My Last Rifles.

“Porter, c’est mourir un peu.”

“It was best for her.” You can say it a hundred times, but it doesn’t make a dent in the grief.