I helped my mother into the bed.
I got her the medications she had not taken.
I made her ginger tea.
I sat with her while she drank it.
She said: I shouldn’t have let him.
I said: Mom. You have cancer. You’re on chemotherapy. It is not your job to manage Gabriel’s behavior toward you.
She said: he’s your husband.
I said: yes.
She said: I don’t want to cause trouble between you.
I said: you’re not causing anything.
She said: he said it was important. The game.
She said: I didn’t want to be the reason for a fight.
I said: you are never the reason for the fight, Mom.
She said: I’m not sure Gabriel sees it that way.
I said: yes.
I said: I’m aware.
She finished the tea.
She was tired in the specific way she was tired after any exertion now, the tiredness that settled into her quickly and completely.
