After the Rubins’ second child is born,
Vera’s mother cares for David and baby Judy
while Vera takes classes at Georgetown University.
She earns a PhD, then teaches physics and math part-time.
One night she walks past the kitchen
where Bob washes dishes
and the room they’ve made ready for the third baby.
She sits on her daughter’s bed and reads her a book
about a lost puppy. After saying, The end,
she asks, Want me to open the window?
Yes, Mommy. Can I touch the stars?
Nobody can, but you can reach. Vera kisses Judy
and her stuffed rabbit. Then, at the kitchen table,
she moves aside books and cereal boxes with mazes
on the back, tends to calculations until two in the morning.
The work is hard, but it would be harder to set it aside.