Germaine Leonin
Selina spooned a little more soup into her mother’s mouth. For weeks now, the poor woman could no longer take in solid food. The monotony of her gruel diet was only interrupted by the occasional noodle soup. And these were on the good days. Last month, after another difficult episode, the old lady had to be fed through a tube-driven deep into her throat—the nutritious slop going straight into her stomach. It was agony seeing the doctors pull out that tube afterwards, but not as bad as watching them put it in. The vision of her mother gagging, wincing in pain as they thrust the tube into her nostril remained a vivid memory in Selina’s head. The nurses had to hold her mother down while the doctor kept saying, “Swallow, just swallow, Mrs. Gomez. Gulp it down.” At that moment
