You Don't Have To Live Like This - Plot & Excerpts
Once over Christmas break several years ago, when I hung out with Beatrice and Bill Russo at Walter’s place in Washington Heights. It was just good luck that I happened to be in town—because of the AHA conference. My supervisor at Oxford, who was chairing a panel, invited me to give a paper on it, so Aberystwyth paid my flight. I say good luck because Walter had been having a hard time. Bill heard about it first and recruited me and Beatrice to cheer him up. “Or at least make sure he doesn’t kill himself,” Bill said. The three of us met at Penn Station and took the subway up together. “Don’t be melodramatic,” I told him. “Well, judge for yourself.” This is the story. After graduation, Walter lived at home for several years, helping out his mother. His father had Parkinson’s and needed a lot of care, and Walter, who was very close to his father, made himself useful: driving him to his medical checkups, shopping and cooking. His mother needed to keep working for the sake of their health insurance—she taught English at a local private school.
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