some things you just can’t fix

We talked around it
not about it
the elephant in the room:

the corpse in the basement a year ago

I couldn’t leave Mom alone today so I
drove her to the library, the grocery store
neither of us mentioned my brother’s death

not directly

I said something about leaving my Christmas lights up a little longer
so I would turn them off today
She said something about the color of the flowers she bought with her groceries

while she was out, I tried to fix her slow-running bathtub drain
but I failed

some things you just can’t fix