the news broke haltingly

first at dinner, at a restaurant

nice enough to impress two kids,

then again,

in my grandparents' basement

on the carpet by the bunk beds,

then again,

at the cape in the dark

where i could roll over

and hide my face.

and each new discussion

came with added assurance

that this was real,

that life was not

how any of us thought it was,

that everything we knew and trusted

had betrayed us.