the last time
he came to visit,
my grandfather
still smiled
like he did
when i was
in elementary school,
and he still had
wise things to say
to me and my brother
about why you
shouldn't get life
insurance for a baby,
but he hobbled around
more slowly than
i remembered,
and he mostly
just sat on the
couch watching
news about trump.
he left the other day.
i was out with my dad
eating sushi and talking
about things i should
know for my future,
and at one point my
dad turned to me and
said you know, when
your grandpa was over
he told me that he had
an entire conversation
with your boyfriend
thinking that he was
talking to your brother.
i was in the kitchen
in the early morning
getting some work done
and i heard him
vocalizing in his sleep.
i think his mind is going.
i thought back to the
conversation my
boyfriend had with
him when he was
over. my grandpa
had said i haven't
seen you since the
pink hair. my boyfriend
has never had pink hair.
when i was a kid,
i saw this tv show
where some pranksters
ran an old lady's
doorbell and ran off
before she came to
answer, and the lady
got all sad when
she opened the door
and no one was there.
my parents like to
tell this story about
how when i saw that,
i started bawling
and they couldn't
calm me down for ages.
i remembered the last
thing i said to my
grandfather before he
left our house. there's
been a cold going
around, and me and
my brother joked
that grandpa was
going to bring it back
to canada with him
and be patient zero
for another pandemic.
he walked out, we
laughed to ourselves
a little, and we thought
nothing more of it.
when i got home,
i stepped out
onto my front porch.
a lady with blond
hair was walking
this big yellow dog
on the side of the road
and as i watched
he spent a while
trying to paw at
the ground around
a stop sign while
the lady looked at
him expectantly.
i walked down our
driveway to the curb
where a lawn sprinkler
was spraying a
semicircle around itself.