I remember when it started. We were playing cards, as we had done for years. It's a a simple way to pass the time when visiting your grandparents in the country. The comfort in the shuffling by sturdy hands. Methodical. Solid. Dependable.

"I don't seem to remember how the game starts. Refresh my memory."

Confusion was set deep in those smiling brown eyes.

We made it through that game, but it was the last game. Forgotten card game rules progressed into forgetting how to car and confusion over items.

I visit her in the nursing home, wishing I could pull...

The disco ball turned on its dusty axis, shining pixels of glitter light across their worn faces and twinkling in their liquid eyes. Eyes that darted to the front door when someone walked through. This hotel bar was the opposite of pretension, the only tension coming from the anticipation of meeting someone to make the night less lonely.

He came in for a beer--procrastinating to book his hotel for a corporate conference plus budget cuts at work meant he had a room at a low budget hotel. All the eyes followed him as he took a spot at the bar....