By John RC Potter

When her husband passed away after a brief battle with cancer my grandmother tried to lift him up from the casket.

Five years passed.

She was found wandering around town during the winter, without a coat. Her family reluctantly puts my grandmother what was then known as an ‘old people’s home.

Grandma had what was referred to at the time as ‘hardening of the arteries.’

Visiting her became a chore; eventually my grandmother did not recognise anyone, not even my father. Although Dad faithfully continued his weekly visits to his mother, my sister and I did not; our teenaged lives took precedence. A few years went by.

Then curiosity and guilt.

Finally, my sister and I went to visit. The nurse brought a woman to us: wheelchair-bound; a wizened, hunched over old crone, eyes still periwinkle blue, but vacant.

I thought of the song, ‘Is That All There Is?’

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John RC Potter is an international educator. He was born in the small town of Clinton in Canada, but is currently living in Istanbul, Turkey. John completed his Honours Bachelor of Arts (English & Drama) degree as well as his Master of Education degree, at the University of Western Ontario (London, Canada). When in high school in Clinton, John had the opportunity to interview the Nobel Prize Winning Author, Alice Munro, who resided in his hometown. It inspired John to begin creative writing. His stories and poems have been published previously in the following: Bosphorus Review of Books (BROB), Literary Yard, Down in the Dirt, National Library of Poetry, Jabberwocky. His most recent publication was ‘The Curse’ (BROB, November 2022); an upcoming publication is ‘Blood from a Stone’, an excerpt from a novel-in-progress (BROB, January 2023).