The autumn night my sister was releasedfrom Bellevue, dressed in a rough shroudof brown burlap,my mother told me to take her upstairsand bathe her.I filled the old tub with hot water,gathered a bar of Ivory soap andthe green bottle
We were told to take anything we wantedfrom the chattel left behind by a disappearedfamily who had rented my aunt’s farmhouse. They left in a hurry, unable to pay the month’s due,unwilling to beg my hard-nosed aunt for more