---

 

This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN#/ISBN# issue/book “Death Waits Outside” cc&d, v300 (the August 2020 issue) Order the 6"x9" paperback book:

Order this writing in the book One with the Mountain the cc&d May-Aug. 2020 magazine issues collection book		get the 426 page May-Aug. 2020 cc&d magazine 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

Copacetic

James Mulhern

The word of the day is copacetic.
I see my brother and me packing suitcases for our trip.
In the frame of the doorway my father stands.
“Everything copacetic?” he says.
One time I asked him where he learned that word.
“As a Marine,” and he told me about his service in the Korean War.
“It was tough,” he said.

In the end, I visited him at the hospital.
“Have some jello.” I held a spoon with of wobble of red before his face.
“Don’t want it.”
“You’ve got to eat, Dad.”
“I’m not hungry.” He pushed it away.
I sat by him from morning until shadows crossed his face.
Mostly he slept. Sometimes he asked what time it was.
I left at nine. Later the nurse called. “Your father’s agitated. We can’t get him back into bed. He wants to leave.”
“I’ll be there soon.”

I stand in the doorway of his hospital room. He’s looking out the window, wearing the blue bathrobe my sister had given him. “It brings out your eyes,” she told him.
“Everything copacetic?” I say.
He turns and looks at me.
“It was tough,” he says.
I guide him to the bed and sleep in the chair beside him. When I wake, I find that he has gone.

Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.

Problems with this page? Then deal with it...