A L W a Y S

I always call my parents in the morning she said. With confidence, feeling like it would always last. First her father left. Two days later her mother. Her always took an immediate nosedive. Now she stares at the phone, feeling sad. Feeling angry that they both had to leave so soon. They were sixty-two and sixty-four. Other people have their parents until they are ninety. Or a hundred. She had a great aunt who hung around until she was one hundred and five. Life is not fair, she said. Life is always unfair. Still using always. Always has. Always will.