Has she told them everything? Keep your coat; winter comes on fast, even though they say you’ll be back in a week. Never be apart from each other. Brush your teeth. Eat your food. All of it. And get to the front of the line at every meal. Watch out for each other. I love you. At that, Vera stumbles, almost falls. She didn’t tell them she loved them. She’d been afraid it would make them all cry harder, so she’d withheld the precious words, the only ones that really mattered.
