Excerpt of Included!

JOHN HARTthe time. Then something changed. She went dark. I’d lost count of the timesI’d heard her crying, and was scared by the many times that my words to herhad fallen into a blank-eyed silence. She’d wasted down to nothing, her skinstretched tight, and I feared that one day I might see her bones if she passedbefore an undraped window.It was scary stuff, and I knew what none of it meant.I entered the quiet house, smelled the coffee my mother liked. I poured acup, and was careful on the stairs. I spilled none of it.Until I opened her door.The gun was already against her temple, her face hopeless and whiteabove the pale pink robe she wore.She pulled the trigger as the door swung wide.My father and I never talked about it. We buried the woman we loved,and it was like I’d always known: death and blood was part of what it took togo from boy to man.I killed a lot of deer after that.78