However Far Away by Rajinderpal S. Pal

Author:Rajinderpal S. Pal [Pal, Rajinderpal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: House of Anansi Press Inc
Published: 2024-07-16T14:33:28+00:00

Aunt Dawnel and Uncle Patrick were waiting for her at Arrivals. The Royal Ulster Constabulary checkpoint on the airport road was a brusque and painful reminder of what she’d left behind years earlier. Maybe it was a good thing that Dev wasn’t with her. Each time she was asked how long she planned to stay, she replied, “Only a fortnight.”

Dawnel and Patrick filled her in on more details during the drive to the hospital. It took a moment for Emily’s ear to re-tune itself to her aunt’s thick lilt. She hadn’t realized how much her own accent had softened over the years. From what she could gather, her mother had been complaining about a headache the previous day and left work in the afternoon to go home and rest. When she didn’t show up for her evening shift, Dawnel sent Patrick over to check on her. There was no answer, so he let himself in and found Ma passed out on the kitchen floor.

“We found your hotel details on a notepad by the phone.”

Emily had spoken to her mother earlier in the week. She’d sounded excited about the upcoming visit, but there was clear disappointment in her voice when she learned that Dev would not be joining.

“I had the place cleaned all nice for him,” she’d said.

At the hospital Emily was told that the surgery had been successful, but her mother was still comatose and intubated—a ventilator was connected to the intubation tube to deliver oxygen. She squeezed her mother’s hand as hard as she could; there was no response. Emily advised Dawnel and Patrick that they should get back to the Auld Pheasant, knowing that as the publicans they couldn’t be away too long, not on a Friday evening. They shared with her that the visceral fear had lifted somewhat lately and business was finally picking up.

Emily sat by her mother’s bedside for the remainder of the day as various members of the clinical team checked in periodically. Late evening, tired after the restless sleep and still jet-lagged, she decided it was best to try to get some rest. She stopped at the pub to pick up the spare keys and made her way to her childhood home. The treeless street was deserted, and the rattle of suitcase wheels echoed off the pavement and brick. A strange mix of familiarity and concern made her breathe more heavily and walk a little faster than normal.

She didn’t recall the house being so small, so musty, everything in a state of disrepair. Why has Ma not refreshed the place with a coat of paint or new curtains at the very least? The thought was immediately followed by the realization that this was what Ma had called “cleaned all nice” for Dev. Bloody hell! What did it look like before?

Every room flooded her with memories. Every door she pushed open, every creak in the floorboards reminded her of her childhood, of the time when her da was still around, years when the house was filled with love and laughter.

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