A Life Lived in Hundreds

by Botched Lobotomy

1389

‘Tea Kettle helped us write it.’
‘Oh.’
‘She’s struggling with...well, just like you are.’
Smith kept her voice carefully neutral. ‘That so.’
‘Smith.’ Pa’s voice was soft. He had more grey in him than she remembered.
‘What.’
‘Come to dinner, Sunday night.’
‘No thank you.’
They stared at each other. He looked away. ‘Please.’
‘It would mean ever so much,’ her mother put in.
‘You can bring your...friend,’ Pa said. ‘If you must.’
She imagined it: sitting at the table again, the smell of pasty and apple and coal from the fire. Twilight sitting next to her.
Home. Properly home.

Comments

[Bicyclette]

the part about Pa having more grey than she remembered. that is exactly where i am now with my parents and it is just so strange. i don't think i'll ever get used to it.

and i'm not in this situation with my parents, but wow do i feel a survivor's guilt there, as few of my friends can say the same. and argh, just knowing how important family is to the very core of Smith, and how much more heartbreaking all this would be for her for it.