Definition (excerpt from “The Orphan’s Daughter”)

In the era just before definitions lived in our pockets

Mommie and I were in for another one of our joint doctor visits

The nurse clipped both of our charts to the door as she escorted us into the small room to wait

After finishing my check up Dr. Goldstein steps out of the room

Mommie snatches her chart to read his notes

“Ms. Reyes is a portly woman who smokes cigarettes,” Mommie read.

“What the fuck is a porky woman,” she asks.

“What,” I respond, reaching out for the chart.

“Portly,” I read.

“It sounds too much like porky. He’s calling me fat,” Mommie said.

When we arrive home, I thumb through a dictionary out loud: “Portly: having a stout body; somewhat fat. stout, plump, fat, overweight, heavy, corpulent, fleshy, paunchy, pot-bellied, beer-bellied, of ample build, ample, well upholstered, well padded, broad in the beam, rotund, roly-poly, round, rounded, stocky, bulky.”

“What the fuck is a corpulent,” Mommie asks.

“Corpulent: fat, fattish, obese, overweight, plump, PORTLY, stout, chubby, paunchy, beer bellied, thickset, hefty, heavy, heavyset, burly, bulky, chunky, well padded, well covered, well upholstered, meaty, fleshy, rotund, round, well rounded, broad, broad in the beam, of ample proportions, big, large, gargantuan, elephantine.”

“Well, Dr. Goldstein has a portly nose,” Mommie said.