Bachelorette

Photo by Mpho Mojapelo on Unsplash

“I love you so much it hurts.” Dad sounded like a child desperate to get adopted. He yanked on my long hair; I fell into his denim work shirt. It reeked of redwood sawdust, sour mash and bargain women. My breath ran out through his shirtsleeve, and he squeezed harder, demanding love without reciprocity save his mouthing of it. 

Mom, having failed to love him thusly, lay unmoving on the kitchen floor. 

I escaped when the ambulance arrived. 

In the living room, Oprah told an applauding television audience, ”Love is a verb."  I thought she said "word". Year after year I went on thinking she’d said "word".