Write-In 2019: 'No matter how hard she tries' by Clodagh O'Brien

She finds it harder and harder to care about stories at bedtime. Even though he asks to hear about aliens and bears and dragons and dinosaurs. He laughs and cries as she reads because he loves words. She loved words too before she was left behind. For a secretary in a tight red dress. Alone, two books at bedtime became one. One became words in the dark. Now, he squirms while she. Watches the nightlight. Another bedtime. Wordless.