We were forever defined by a handful of hours.  My nose was pressed against the back screen door to breathe deep the fine mesh cooled by the rain, the metallic wet and sweetness of summer.  The background music was you in the kitchen, talking to Betty for hours on the phone, the lilt of your voice a healing salve and metronome; it was the first voice heard by my unborn ears.  

Your laughter washed us clean, rivulets down the day, over my heart in a baptism of…