Hush, for Now
"Hush," she told me, "We won't speak of it now, it can wait and we'll attend to it this weekend."
That meant a visit to her friend, Clara, who had a cane which Anne couldn't bring herself to use on me, and I would lie on Clara's couch with my head in Anne's lap and she would nod, and Clara would bring the cane down so hard that the tears would burst from my eyes and I would bury a scream against Anne's thigh making her cry as well, leaking tears but nodding again to summon another stroke that Clara from her sense of duty would deliver will all her strength and, much too soon after that, another and so on until there was nothing left to be sorry for.
But for now, silence.













