The Things We Kept

They had each remembered their father as somebody different: worried, demanding, generous, quiet. For an hour they argued over which version was fair.

Then Imad found a list labeled What Sal needs. It contained no groceries. It said: Listen. Do not offer advice first. Ask about the dog.

Sal sat on the floor and laughed once, then began to cry. Nora brought a glass of water without saying anything useful. There did not seem to be anything useful to say.

The lists did not erase the difficult years. They showed that their father had sometimes tried to change without knowing how to announce it. That was smaller than an apology, and more complicated than the story any of them had brought into the room.