slide #1

[slide of my mother lying on a picnic blanket on a sandy beach while my grandmother reads]

Imagine a beach picnic: my grandmother sits on the left, all beige, long-sleeve coat, round buttons, corduroy pants, heeled boot caked with sand, but only her torso and legs are in frame as she dissipates out, half-shadowed, head cut-off, only the apparition of her body facing my mother. Hand resting as a bookmark, pages held open on her lap. A beige knapsack behind her; a white cup; sand white from the midday sun; fleece blanket spread like a sea; sand, sand, sand like flour on rolled dough.