Small pleasures like ghosts in a cloud of smoke — The first time was on the roof, and so every time after had to be on the roof, even though it violated the building’s bylaws. Fortunately it was raining in our rainy town, so we were alone up there, under a big purple bruise of a sky. It took a…

Watching our dads grow older is painful, but it can be a step toward reconciliation — There is something special between fathers and daughters. The nature of the special thing is clearer, simpler when the daughters are children: There is gentleness in it, and nurture, and the protective feeling of any large being for a smaller one it loves. My dad taught me, strapped into six…