Summary

George recalls the last time he saw his father; it was at Christmas a few months before his father died. George's father had pulled his sciatic nerve while rearranging a mattress and was in considerable pain. George took him to the emergency room and sensed that his father did not want to be alone, even as long as it took to have his father's pain prescription filled. On the way home, George's father stated that it was getting to be time to die. George's father died on a Saturday afternoon in February on the work bench in his basement workshop. When George's Aunt Alice called to tell George about his father, George's first instinct was to call his drug dealer to block the pain but that somehow seemed disrespectful.

Early the next morning, George flew home to Missouri and George could feel his...