"At the window he put his nose against the glass, which was beautifully cold, then drew away and saw the new consistency of the air: quick and blurred and sputtering white. The changed air was leaving itself on the tree branches. The care in those words, the sensitivity! Snow-dreaded, beloved; oppressive, angelic; shoveled, ogled-with the agency to leave itself so wonderfully on the branches! For no fault of his own, James is often in need of salvation. Like snow, he is the most beautiful problem."
"Fleeing Child Protective Services, Nola brings James to an intergenerational assisted living home run by her music teacher, Caz. 'Youngs' live rent free if they care for the 'olds.' Twentysomethings bogged down with college debt and seniors who can't afford the outrageous cost of traditional assisted living help each other out. Caz inherited the woodsy minimansion-turned-nursing-home, which is in various states of disrepair."
A nonverbal eight-year-old named James is rendered with sensory precision and emotional tenderness, finding solace in cold and snow. His thirteen-year-old cousin Nola acts as his primary caregiver and, fleeing Child Protective Services, brings him to an intergenerational assisted-living house run by her former music teacher, Caz. Young residents live rent-free in exchange for caregiving, creating reciprocal support between debt-burdened twentysomethings and financially strained seniors. Caz manages a woodsy, partially dilapidated mansion according to semiradical anarchist politics forged in a punk past, while communal improvisation and moral ambiguity shape decisions about harboring minors and redefining care.
Read at Portland Monthly
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