ABSTRACT
I was able then to spend some time alone with Fatimah. I reflected on some memories of meaningful moments with her as I watched her halfclosed, sometimes fluttering eyes, saw her frail chest rise and fall to the sounds of the ventilator, and witnessed her periodically gag and expectorate, as dozens of wires and tubes and lines surrounded her airflow mattress and bed like a giant spider web. And I thought, "What a metaphor."
