Gummy, as I came to call her at the age of two, came from a time with butter churns and trains and hats and gloves. Her biscuit recipe was no different. [...]
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After three years of discussing our future, we decide rooting our family in one place is far more natural than moving with the Navy in turns of two to three years. [...] His face and eyes radiate tranquil happiness. Pride. Satisfaction. Paused in the pilot’s seat, he appears to be tucking the memories of this essential day into a deep, sacred place. [...] Time stood still. Was this the moment I had prayed for? [...] “First thing we do is cut that down,” my husband said as he looked up at the gangly thing. The monstrosity seemed to devour the front of the house. Given the damage to the driveway, I knew that we would indeed need to get rid of it. The people selling the house felt differently, though. [...] She was standing naked in a field of red wheat – the field to the east of her grandparent’s house that she had passed on her way in from Chicago – but she didn’t feel cold or realize she was naked until she saw Paul a few feet away. He was wearing a lab coat, had a stethoscope around his neck, and was examining a shadowy figure on the operating table in front of him. Leni stepped closer and realized that the patient was her grandmother, stiff and still as she had always been, and fully clothed in a long, black dress. She slowly turned her stone face to Leni and spoke. “Ich war schon tot.” [...] Though I grew up with him, I know little about my dad. I know he lost a brother at an early age. I know he majored in history at college and hoped to become a teacher. I know that he likes engineering challenges. His emotions, however, remain a mystery. [...] “My mother had the best possible death,” Hans wrote. “It was sudden, painless, and in the company of the one she loved.” [...] After five minutes, the man had still not budged. Ten minutes. Nothing. Finally, after fifteen minutes, the man took off his hat. He had thin, gray hair. Eleanor shook her head, thinking, at last, an imposter. But imposter or not, she decided, he was still worth shooting. She adjusted her focus just as the man turned to offer a full frontal view. His wide eyes ran across the counter and into the backroom near the bathroom, and then squinted, as if trying to peer through the lush Ficus, behind which Eleanor stood. Eleanor emerged from behind the tree and slowly lowered her camera. Phineas smiled. Then he got up and walked toward her. [...] |
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