the wind, mother.  they say a hurricane is on its way.  you've been asleep.  i was waiting to see you.
i've forgotten what the weather can be like here. i've lived with four seasons so many years now.
can i do anything for you, mother? make anything easier?
do you want more medication, mother? the doctor said you can have all you want.
a friend told me she never had a chance to say goodbye to her mother. i wanted to thank you, mother, for bringing me into this world. for raising me so well.
i wanted to tell you how much you've meant to me. i'm going to miss you so much.
are you afraid?
no, please go call.
i hope i haven't disappointed you, mother.
i wished i had more to show for myself. i know you would have liked to have had grandchildren.
my life hasn't been all that.  normal.
i'm either a step ahead.  or a step behind.
what?
an envelope?
this one?
what do you mean?
it's dated "april 4, 1985." it says, "new orleans." "this is my last will and testament.  i don't have much to leave.  few possessions, no money really.  i will go out of this world the same way i came in, alone and with nothing. all i have is my story.  i'm writing it now while i still remember it"
"my name is benjamin"
is any of this true?
some pages seem to be torn out here.
there's an old streetcar token.
shallow.
no, that's fine. please.
dorothy had to go home.
"on sundays the families would come and visit.
are you alright, mother?
this man. he loved you from the first time he saw you.
nobody has ever loved me that way.
he crossed out something.  and then he's written.  "when"
i'll get the nurse.
i haven't spent as much time as i would have like with her the last few years.
the next page says.
did you say something, mother?
it seems to be getting worse.
are you hearing me, mother?
what?
do you want me to go on reading?
"things were changing quickly."
i think i should find out what's going on.
is this what you're looking for?
you said you wanted this?
"i had gone"
did you love him, mother?
". we were working in murmansk, russia"
are you upset, mother?
would you like some socks?
do you want me to stop reading?
"i couldn't wait to see her again."
he said, "the most beautiful," mother.
he said.
oh, that's great.
isn't that good news, mother?
the hurricane. it is going to miss us.
would you like me to keep reading?
he said, "things were becoming different for me"
did you mother?
you couldn't have known.
i've never seen these.  you never talked about your dancing very much.
"i didn't leave right away"
i'll get the nurse.
he said, "i went back" but then there are a whole lot of pages torn out.
". i listened to the sound of the house" i think i already read that.  the next thing he wrote.  he spilled something on it.  it's hard to read.  something about "sailing." does that make sense?
i don't understand. when did you meet dad?
did you ever tell him about this benjamin?
"that night, in the caribbean i had a visitor"
i thought the wind had shifted away.
mother?
he said, "she found peace."
you were pregnant? you never said anything, did you? i mean, what happened to the child?
they said if you needed oxygen.
"she flourished"
he was my father? this benjamin was my father?
why didn't you ever tell me?!
you never said a word to me.
i need to go for a minute.
you're all i have.
"you grew, like the doctor had said, normal and healthy"
i almost wish i didn't know any of this. i feel odd, reading. it.
where did he go?
there are postcards.
they're all addressed to me.  they're from all sorts of places.
they're for my birthday. 1970. i would have been two.  "happy birthday." "i wish i could have kissed you goodnight." "happy birthday, you're five." "i wish i could have taken you to your first day of school." "happy birthday six-year-old." "i wish i could be there to teach you how to play the piano" "11" ". told you not to chase some boy" "13" "held you when you had a broken heart" "1983." i was fifteen. "i wish i could have been your father. nothing i ever did will replace that"
what i think is"
".  i hope you start all over again"
i'd been gone for a long time.
you ready, mom?
is something wrong, mother?
hi.
that young man was my father?
is there anything we need to do?
that's the last thing he wrote.
what happened to him after that last time with you, mother?
i'm going to see what they want us to do.
it's a train schedule.
"i'm on a train in india filled with people."
he started to write something else.  "i'm going" but he stopped.
i wish i had known him.
i'd better go and see what they're planning to do.