Iris stood at the open train window, laughing and waving to her little family down on the platform. It was nearly dawn. Her mother, Ida, stood next to the brick station wall, a thin hanky at her nose and eyes, her winter coat pulled tightly in front of her, trying to keep the steam from the train off her legs. Iris’ younger sister Muriel, also in tears, reached up and touched her hand.
“Come back soon,” Muriel pleaded to her 18-year-old sister, who was magnificent in a raccoon coat, her wavy chestnut hair resting on its high shoulders.
–Kurt Sipolski, from Too Early for Flowers: The Story of a Polio Mother
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