Laughing the girl waved a razor in my direction

she is shaving her head for cancer, wants donations

on the table is a donation box, I put money in it

‘Thankyou’ she says running fingers through long brown hair

‘My daughter in law died of cancer last year’ I say, starkly

the words enter my head, last year, is it already last year?

tears in my eyes as I remember the last time I saw Sharon

yellow, tired, dying

I want to scream out ‘she is dead’ but I go and choose a cauliflower

life goes on, I am alive