Everything My Mother Taught Me

by Alice Hoffman

It was a spectacular and lonely landscape that I wished my father could see. I wished he could take off his shoes and climb over the rocks and wave to me and that he would be here in this world once again, if only for a few hours.

They prattled on and on to me, knowing that I was a good listener and that I never judged them. The truth of the matter was I was incapable of saying a cruel word.