I bite the corner of my mouth, watching a green leaf flutter past the
swing and land inside the tire where my mother sat countless times. The
image of her white nightgown and light hair flowing through the night as
she swung on it is still so vivid, because the last time was only yesterday.
A throat clears behind me, and I finally blink, dropping my eyes.
“Did they say anything to you?” Mirai asks me with tears in her voice.
I don’t turn around, but after a moment, I give a slow shake of my head.
“When did you last speak to them?”
I can’t answer that. I’m not sure.
Behind me, I feel her approach, but she stops several feet back as the
clank of the first ambulance gurney jostles and creaks down the stairs and is
carried from the house.
I tip my chin up, steeling myself at the distant commotion outside as the
paramedics open the front door. The calls and questions, the horns honking
as more people arrive, beyond the gates, where the media can no doubt see
the body being wheeled out.
When did I last speak to my parents?
“The police found some medications in your parents’ bathroom,” Mirai
broaches in her soft voice. “They have your father’s name on them, so they
called the doctor and learned that he had cancer, Tiernan.”
I don’t move.
“They never said anything to me,” she tells me. “Did you know your
father was sick?”
I shake my head again, still watching the tire sway.
I hear her swallow. “Apparently, he tried treatments, but the disease was
aggressive,” she says. “The doctor said he… he wasn’t going to last the
year, honey.”
A gust of wind picks up outside, churning the swing, and I watch the
rope spin the tire as it twists.
“It looks like… It looks like they…” Mirai trails off, unable to finish her
thought.
I know what it looks like. I knew when I found them this morning.
Toulouse, my mother’s Scottish terrier, was clawing at the door and begging
to get into their bedroom, so I cracked it open. The thought occurred to me
that it was weird they weren’t up yet, but I let the dog in anyway. Just
before I closed it again though, my eyes shot up, and I saw them.
On the bed. In each other’s arms. Fully dressed.
