Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story

by Bess Kalb

If I could see one thing for the rest of eternity, it would be your grandfather laughing.

the aisle I winked at him under my veil. He winked back. He toasted me with sparkling cider at the reception in the temple: “To the love of my life. May she always get what she wants, whether I like it or not.”

What have I always told you, Bessie? What have I always said? You’re my angel. I am you. I’m the bones in your body and the blood that fills you up and the meat around your legs. I’m the softness of your cheeks and the way they freckle in the summer, and I’m the streaks of rust in your hair, and I’m the nose under your nose and the eyes that narrow with fire and roll backward in delight at all the same things. I’m your style. I’m your laugh. I’m the rage in your heart that I’m not here. You’re the body I left behind.

When the earth is cracking behind your feet and it feels like the whole world is going to swallow you up, you put one foot in front of the other and you keep going. You go forward.