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She seemed larger than I remember. She grew to be a giant. I remember her small frame, blonde hair, and sharp nose that fit her foreignness so elegantly. Maybe the prettiest nose I’ve ever seen on a woman? But now her giant body cast large shadows on the wall and obscured the light that was behind her back. Why was she wearing an old blue nightgown that belonged to my grandmother? Suddenly, there was a shift and she became normal size and I was reduced to a small phantom. She looked older now. She never once spoke to me. And maybe if she did her heavy words would pin me to the floor. She kept her distance and never looked me in the eye.

         But I desired to speak to her or write a note and lay it near the lamp for her to read. If I wrote the words down they would’ve said, “You have so much to offer like a black hole.” But I never did. I wondered who the child was that sat in the corner. There were intricate hoses and tracheotomy tubes protruding from the boy’s nose. They appeared advanced and were grey in tone with strange fluids flowing through their slender lumen. I never understood what exactly was going on but I was there again near her and that felt peaceful