Memorial by Bryan Washington

Author:Bryan Washington [Washington, Bryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

One afternoon, Eiju woke up feeling weak, stumbling all over the living room, kicking away my futon. I asked if he had a problem, and he groaned, stumbling back into bed. He stood to make some tea and changed his mind after he’d steeped it. Once he’d dropped his mug on the tile, I told him to take the night off, to just stay inside.

You’re drained, I said. Go back to sleep.

Bullshit, said Eiju. Don’t talk to me like you know how I’m doing.

And that’s when Eiju grabbed his stomach. I followed as he hobbled toward the bathroom, and my father barely made it to the toilet before he started dry-heaving, knees spread on the tile.

It’d been happening for a few days now. Sparingly. Just enough to say the tide on his illness wasn’t turning.

The second time, I’d called Taro in the middle of the night. He showed up like fifteen minutes later. And he stood, watching over Eiju, rubbing his back, asking me if anything else had been amiss. Had Eiju been finishing his meals? Was he having diarrhea? Sudden loss of control in his joints? Or did he ever feel his legs going out from under him or did he—

At that, Eiju turned around to smile at his friend.

It’s all of the above, he said, but it’s not as bad as all that.

And Eiju grinned again before he yakked all over the floor.

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