The List Still on the Fridge
my dad's to-do list is still on the fridge. nobody's crossed anything off. i keep reading it like there's a fourth line.
I'm at my parents' house, my mom's house now, and I can't sleep so I'm in the kitchen at 2am drinking water I don't want.
There's a list on the fridge in my dad's handwriting, held up by a magnet from a pizza place that closed years ago. The list says: oil the gate. call about the gutters. ask R about the tickets.
He never crossed any of them off. He was the kind of man who would have, eventually. Sunday jobs. He liked a Sunday job.
My mom hasn't taken the list down. I notice I haven't either. I stood here last night too and read it the same way, top to bottom, like there might be a fourth line.
The gate still creaks. I heard it when I came in.
I keep thinking I'll oil it before I leave. I keep thinking that's not really why I want to.
Did this one stay with you?
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