SECOND BEST

Looking back on it now, perhaps I should have known that Arlen’s ex would continue to cast a shadow over her second marriage. Harry was a considerate and attentive partner, eminently reasonable and understanding even when Arlen was strident and irrational. But he...

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SECOND BEST

SECOND BEST

Looking back on it now, perhaps I should have known that Arlen’s ex would continue to cast a shadow over her second marriage. Harry was a considerate and attentive partner, eminently reasonable and understanding even when Arlen was at her most strident and irrational....

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GRAND ADVENTURE

GRAND ADVENTURE

Adam and I are reading a picture book. ‘Hunh?’ I say, turning to the previous page. "I don’t get this." Adam instructs me. "What would I do without you to explain these things to me?" I ask him affectionately. "I don’t know what you would do!" he answers importantly....

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BIND

BIND

This is a journal entry from the time that I only discovered recently because it never made it into A Patchwork Memoir.I follow Beth into her office, note the water-spotted, mildewing patch of rug behind my chair, and sit down with a sigh. Beginnings are almost as...

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HOOKS

HOOKS

Dale was newly married at the time of her encounter with the bear—to another geologist, whose name was Charlie. When I visited their new home some months later, she made me a peanut butter sandwich with her toes, using a special knife with little pegs on the sides....

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EARPLUGS

EARPLUGS

One day I heard from a friend that Britte was home from France. Remembering how absolutely I’d once believed that we’d be friends for life, there at one or the other’s death bed, I needed answers—or, at least, to take a stab at closure—and made up my mind to call her,...

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