Wednesday, April 09, 2008

6. Looping

After New York, a week at home, then Charlie was in the hospital for five days. I was allowed to sleep on a fold-out couch beside him.

The day we got home from the hospital, I said, ‘Let’s get some fresh air straight away.’ I said, ‘We’ll leave the bags in the hallway by the door and get some fresh air straight away.’
MST CHARLIE, the hospital wrist band looped around his wrist, his bare feet stretching in the stroller, flexing his toes in the breeze. The baggage tags still looped the stroller frame.
We walked up the quiet afternoon hill past the jacaranda trees. When we left for New York they were vibrant in their purple, now the purple was gathering into itself, and into the summer green.
‘We’ll loop around the block past the corner store,’ I said, ‘you want to say hello to the people in the store?’
“Bye bye,” he replied, calmly and precisely, from his stroller.
He was remembering that the corner store was the first place he ever said ‘bye bye’.

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