From Language Arts, by Stephanie Kallos

From Language Arts, by Stephanie Kallos:

About a couple who have a child, developing delightfully then suddenly regressing until all he can say is Gaaah!  'On the spectrum,' as they say now.

"I  love my daughter dearly," Eulalie repeated, "but she has a tendency to let hope outlast the truth.  I believe that in modern-day psychological terms, t his would be known as denial."

Then, just as Cody, the child's father, turns to his mother-in-law to ask, what do you think is wrong with him --

"Before she could answer, Cody exploded into view, rounding the corner of the house, completely transformed from the child they'd seen only moments before:  joyful, laughing, anointed with garden soil ad jam as all young children should be, bounding toward his grandmother looking like any other toddler who hates getting a haircut.
     "There he is, Charles thought.  There's Cody."

A description of weather that says everything about the narrator's inner life:
"The rain had stopped and started several times in the past hour, sudden downpours followed by sudden cessations, as if there were a poorly sutured incision in the sky that kept opening up, being restitched by the same incompetent surgeon, and then tearing open again, a perpetual malpractice suit.  "I'm fine," Charles repeated.

How many times have I -- have we all -- felt life to one ongoing malpractice suit!
What a heart-ripping, gorgeous piece of writing.

And later, speaking to and re his wife:
Why is it possible, Charles wondered, to recognize certain doomed conversational choreographies -- especially the kind that occurs between spouses -- and yet remain incapable of changing the steps?
He'd pondered this for years.

And what married person has not.

Regarding a nun with dementia, who is now working on an art project:
'Yes, this is definitely a new story.  It lacks a title.  The whole is not yet clear.  There are many white spaces.  But Giorgia has faith.  What is needed at such times of confusion and uncertainty is what is always needed:  patience and prayer.'

Spoken like a true artist.