she looked so much older now

I saw a woman at a Del Taco on Glenoaks. She was walking away from the restroom as I went in. I walked back to see who she was with, some guy towards the back, his back turned away from the crowd. She has two daughters, or she had two. They're off on their own now, or in another home, or with their grandmother. One of them was born with a brain defect, one of them is 16, always with her boyfriend. She's not a virgin anymore, you know?

No one likes to hear from her. My mom last saw her at the mall with a blue denim skirt. She's always with someone new or in jail, with her husband. She's always telling stories, always lying.

Her father was my favorite great-uncle growing up. He always made me laugh. We watched wrestling together, and when he was visiting, he liked to watch old Western movies, and he loved Burt Lancaster. I guess he was big in Tehran. Her father recently died of a heart attack. My parents say his daughter drove him to it.