“Searching for the Duck Hole,” by Emily Sinclair (fiction, ’14)

An essay by Emily Sinclair (fiction, ’14) appears in Colorado Review:

 

SEARCHING FOR THE DUCK HOLE

Emily Sinclair

Contact with My Mother, from Whom I Am Estranged

My mother started calling me about a year and a half ago. She is in her late eighties and suffers from cognitive decline, so she does not remember that we haven’t had a relationship for more than twenty-five years. Despite her memory struggles, she figured out my home number and leaves messages on it. The first one, transcribed to include her pauses, looks like poetry:

The message is for Emily Sinclair (she begins)
Emily
I want you to know
that you are the first person to know (. . . continue reading here.)