Decades ago, your mother left a city burning behind her and walked until her shoes fell apart. The ones she loved did not follow.

She whispered their names into the sea, but the tide did not answer, and the gray horizon stretched empty before her, endless, indifferent.

Then you came.

Tom Busillo (he/his) is a writer living in Philadelphia, PA, with his wife Carol (who’s a much better writer) and his son Nick.