IN THE CROSSHAIRS OF MYSTERY, THEY

6 8 Y IN THE CROSSHAIRS OF MYSTERY, THEY M A R I A N N E B O R U C H In the crosshairs of mystery, they say to say: you can let go now (mother, father, fill-in-the-blank). I know you’re only holding on for us. Imagine. But imagine the body. Imagine only half scenes and flashes, decades of nothing between. You’re 80, in a diaper, everyone too nice, words fast, too faint, making over the pretty flowers. How many IVs? How much oxygen? Our sitting there, our staring – she did let go of that, the room, the cheap chairs, let go of Mondays, the guy bringing the host to her from Mass, gravely aware of his part in the drama, then someone else entirely when no, she turned away. Later, how to find her? I tried blurting out. I tried letting go of the sentence, mid-sentence. ...