My family is spread out on the lawn below me, all the ladies dressed in their finery. I wasn’t invited, but I never am anymore. This saddens me to no end, but no bother. I can watch and listen from here.

My daughters sit on the far left and far right. Addie is on the left with her three daughters. God bless her heart; Addie never could keep her legs together. She sits spread out like a man, arms and legs akimbo. And Betsy, on the right with her brood of kids, sits with her knobby knees pressed tightly together. I’m surprised she ever spread hers. Lawd a mercy, I shouldn’t talk that way about them! They are good mothers, even if they have run off their menfolk.

I am chilled, even in this sweltering heat that makes it hard for them to breathe. It doesn’t bother me, though. Nothing bothers me anymore.

I wish they would finish taking this picture and come visit me. I’ll soon have to take to my bed. It is dark and smells cloyingly of flowers. I’m out back behind the house. Go through the wrought iron gate and turn left. You can’t miss my flowers, piled as they are on the fresh turned earth.