my uncle’s girlfriend tells us about the flying lesson

like a bird, she said. when they landed she called him Captain. all this time we had thought only of his liver, the debts, the vomit weekday mornings on the sidewalk. drink after drink. it was after the funeral when she told us. imagine our surprise: that he had taken to the air. that someone needed us to know. that the whole day before takeoff he sipped nothing but water and coffee. there are as many sides to a man, she said, as there are gears on a plane. she said, i am telling you: he knew the way up.