Mary Petrosky A Simple Declaration How could you let that happen? he demands as if I'd spilled red wine all over his cream carpet or forgotten to stir the sauce and a crust of burnt tomato coated the pot's bottom, as if I'd left the sheets on the line in the rain or the windows open and a flock of cedar waxwings now circled the living room, as if I'd borrowed his car and run it into an old tree, or let a small child topple from the top of the stairs and not just said I've fallen in love with you.

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