He wanted more love, but his mother thought that was a bad idea. You don’t want more, you want better love, she said. No, he said, more. So he drove to the clinic and filled out the forms. In the examination room the doctor injected him. They told him to sleep but he went to the beach and splashed in the water. A couple under an umbrella watched him. This is more love! he shouted. This is!
In his mother’s house he took off his shirt. Look at all this more love! he said.
His mother sat, boiling eggs. Quietly she rose and tended to his sunburned neck. Her hand settled on his skin and his heat increased. She tightened her hold and he realized how she was hurting him. Better, she said.