I’ve figured out other things too, things that would be obvious to anyone but me, like how those friends weren’t really my friends. They were Buddy’s. And going our own ways would feel like nothing.

Beneath her floral shampoo, I swore I could detect it: the tinny scent of recycled air. It gave me a thrill, almost arousal, from pondering whether she noticed something similar in me, that elephant odor of aged skin.

You don’t know what else to say, so you ask about simple things, like what her favorite commissary snacks are, and if you can send coloring books through the corrections postal service.

The shamelessness pained me the most in the sauna. With a few exceptions, their butts were naked against the towels on the wood. Saggy or perky.

Your father held one of your mother’s notebooks where she wrote the names and addresses of the homes she cleaned. A few sticky notes stuck out like orange tongues from the notebook as he flipped through the pages.