Blanket

by Melissa Llanes Brownlee

---

Don’t let me be lonely she says, her arms cuddling her yellow blanket, her legs splayed underneath, painted toes peeking out, because it’s too hot to have a blanket, but she refuses to be without it, give me a hug she begs, her nails scratching the holey patches she’s made over the years, a comforting tic she doesn’t even realise she’s doing, and I wonder how long this one will last before she gets another one, and I lean in to give her a hug and she swaddles me in her holey, scratchy blanket, which I think should be a barrier between us, but it’s not, sucking me down into her and I can’t get free, don’t leave me she whispers into my ear, and even though I want nothing but to do just that, I stay, because she is my mother after all.