Watching his mother weep in his arms had been something Gerry hoped he’d never have to do again. He’d pulled it off, standing strong and trying to appear stoic, but if he hadn’t been handed a beer by his brother-in-law the second she had let go, Gerry was more than sure he’d have crumbled into dust and blown away on the wind.
His mother had left Jersey City after his father had passed away, selling the house to lease a mobile home in a retirement community down in Jackson. It had a porch, and a driveway, and oddly enough, considering the size it appeared to be from the outside, it was fairly spacious on the inside. Gerry’s eyes tracked from corner to corner, shelf to shelf, amazed at how much his mother had managed to bring with her: family pictures, trinkets made by clumsy hands that pre
