“I was thinking the other day,” David said, adjusting himself in his chair. “Do you remember how we used to flood the backyard in the winter to make ice rink?”

            “Yeah,” Krystof said, grimacing. He’d started to laugh at the memory but stopped himself. “Worst fucking ice rink in the world.”

            “Hey! That’s not fair. I did all the work to make that rink. Set planks in frozen ground and smoothed over the dead grass and filled with water. It was a good rink.”

            “You held a hose, Dai.”

            “I remember a beautiful skating rink where I beat your ass at hockey,” David said, adjusting himself in his chair again.

            “The only thing beautiful was girl from down the street doing her twirly spins,” Krystof said.

            “You remember trying to see up that tutu costume,” David said.

            “You pussy peeker, too, no?”

            “Fuck you, Krystof.”

            “Fuck you, Dai.”

            “I love you, you fuck.”

            “Yeah, I know,” Krystof said turning his head away as his eyes clouded over. “You are best big brother.”

            “Only big brother.”

            “Still best.”

            They were quiet then, and David began to nod off, his head dipping a little to his left.

            “You back now, Dai?” Krystof asked when his brother began to stir.

            “How long?”

            “Five minutes. You were dreaming. What were you dreaming of?”

            “That skating girl. Ida. When Thelma and I went back to old neighborhood I saw her. Ugly. Mole on nose whole fucking Pakistani family could move into.”

            “You dreamed about her?”

            “Fuck no. Not now. When she was young, you know, when we all were young.”

            “She’s a good memory. Would have liked to see under that tutu.”

            “Flood of memories,” David said, sighing and adjusting himself in the chair again. “Or, with you, flood of something.”

            “Fuck you, Dai. You know? Fuck you.”

            They were quiet again.

            “Do you miss those days?” Krystof asked.

            “Yeah. No. Some maybe. Does no good to think back. We must look forward. Think forward. All shit, it’s behind us. Gone. We think only about life ahead now.”

            “Not easy to do.”

            “If it was easy, it would be called paradise or vacation or fuck I don’t know. But not this shit.”

            “How long.” Krystof said, quietly, barely above the noises in the room.

            “Long as we make it long.”

            David nodded his head toward the approaching nurse.

            “Nurse Ratched’s here for you,” he said, chuckling.

            “How come I always get bitch, when you get pretty one?”

            “Nurse Amy,” David said, slowly, sucking in his breath loudly.

            “You look down her shirt. Pig.”

            David smiled.

            Krystof sat on the edge of the chair after Nurse Ratched left feeling woozy, swaying a little back and forth.

            “I’m leaving now, David,” he said, getting up.

            “Bastard.”

            “Stop bitching. You got Nurse Tits coming, and I’ve been doing this damn chemo a lot longer than you.”

            He quickly pulled the yellow peanut from the side table and leaned over and gagged and then vomited.