Thirdj)riz.e winner, art
I
Counted
She had hved a
full life,
so they said. She had raised three children, had seven grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren. Her bent frame had withstood the blister of nearly ninety winters.
-Tissiana Kelley
Yet her once confident stride had been reduced to an often disoriented, dependent shuffle. The constant grind of life had slowly but surely dulled her faculties. Her husband had died long ago, and most of her other trophies,
including her memory, had vanished as well. Her descendants, who dutifully housed, fed and cared
for
her,
keeping her from the gates of a nursing home, coolly justified her irrational behavior by proclaiming "her mind is gone." The slow passage of her time seemed to be marked only by meals, and her daily riding up and lying down. Her glazed stare was endlessly directed at the opposing wall as though watching some unseen television. sat and watched her, and counted the days until I
my
next birthday. --Brian Arner
