wildness

“Tonight, a dog holds a piece of cardboard in its mouth for an entire block. I don’t know what it finds in such a small, almost useless thing, but then again, I horde so much of what is small and useless, even to me, even to a dog. In most moments, there is something beautiful about trying, even if it’s impossible.”

While his father recovers from heart surgery, a son spends time with him at home and tries to make sense of his father’s hallucinations and confusion. This story was named a “Notable Essay” in Best American Essays 2018.