All the Time in the World

Tony Covatta

3 hours ago

1 min read

“Paul, Emily here.” Pleasant and composed as always. “I need a power of attorney for my mom, Agnes.”

“Sure. Why the POA?”

“Mom has terminal cancer. Not yet but very soon she’ll need heavy morphine. I’ll handle her affairs.”

We meet at Hospice. Agnes is sitting up, hair brushed, alert, as pleasant and composed as Emily. She signs the POA, we find witnesses. We chat, then: “Thanks, Paul, so very much. Goodbye!” Hand on my arm, no self-pity. As I leave, mother and daughter carry on, chatting amiably. They make the most of it.

All the time in the world.

Recent Posts

See All

A Celebrity Encounter

Boss Baxter Bigg invited Ray to attend POTUS’s speech. Afterwards, POTUS worked the room, chatting with his cousin Clyde who sat by Ray, then greeting Bigg: “Bax! What’s up?” Amazing. Yale classmates.

Foreseeing the Future

Grammar school seniors Nick and Mick were altar boys that month for early mass. They played a game. First to the sacristy each day signed in for both of them, inserting profane or scatological nicknam

Crassula Ovata

Grandma rode home with the kids from a family funeral. “Gran, what’s that potted plant by Uncle Rocco’s gravestone?” “Rocky was our first at college. The day he arrived, his roommate already had a jad

Comments