Human

A human is human through others. The words are expressed in the aftermath of the trial where Zarko Dragic was found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for crimes against humanity in the systematic rape of women in the Bosnian War. The protagonist in Kim Echlin’s fifth novel, Speak, Silence, isContinue reading “Human”

Return to Sender

Today would have been Dad’s 89th birthday. Petrus Gerardus Cornelius Aloysius de Cock was born on this day, November 27, 1932 in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Return to Sender is a story about my writing to him up until his death at a long term care home in Wallaceburg, April 2, 2019. The notes began whenContinue reading “Return to Sender”

The Last Breath

I remember Mom’s last breath. It was more of a heave, a bursting of air, a quick exhalation preceded by days of shallow, open mouthed panting. We had sent Dad to our house, imploring him to get some decent rest. He had held vigil for the last five days, never leaving the hospital since heContinue reading “The Last Breath”