And Karen. About Dwayne.

I know my brother. I’ve known him fifty years. He’s not a bad man. He’s a scared one. He’s been scared since our dad died and left the place to me, because I was the eldest and the steady one, and Dwayne got the pickup and a hundred dollars. He’s never forgiven it. He’ll hurt you, if there’s a chance. Not because he hates you. Because he thinks, down deep, that he’s owed.

Don’t let him take the place. But don’t let him fall, either. He’s the only brother I’ve got. If you can find it in you, give him a way back.

It’s the hardest thing I’ll ever ask you to do.

I loved you every day.

Tom

I read it twice. Then I folded it in four and held it against my chest, and I cried the way I hadn’t been able to cry since the diagnosis, deep and ugly and unembarrassed, bent over with my forehead nearly touching the sod. The meadowlark stopped. Then it started again.