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What could anyone possibly do? Were we next for the bombs? The hair on my nape rose. I turned back to the TV and watched as the cloud continued to rise. More words flashed by on the bottom of the screen, but I barely saw them. I became so focused on the TV, I never heard my mother enter the porch until one of her hands fell on my shoulder. Tilting my head back to look at her, I realized it must be worse than I ever could have imagined if she was touching me. It was the first time she’d touched me in a comforting way in years. It would be the last, that wasn’t by accident or in anger, for all the years following. “What is happening?” Lisa inquired in a tremulous whisper. “The end,” Mother replied. I wouldn’t know how right she was until years later.