Nearer Than the Sky by T. Greenwood

Author:T. Greenwood [Greenwood, T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Contemporary Women, Family Life, Psychological, General
ISBN: 9780758274366
Google: Mcl__O1o64gC
Amazon: 0758238746
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2011-09-26T16:00:00+00:00

THREE

It began snowing that night. The temperature dropped down to twenty degrees and clouds moved across the mountains like a dark woolen coat. I stood outside after Rich called and watched them moving, covering the peaks’ shoulders. Enclosing them. The sky turned an impossible shade of violet before it grew black, and my fingers were almost numb with the cold. I had turned off all the lights in the house, and the blackness was absolute. The snow clouds swallowed the stars, and moon meant nothing other than a faint memory of something bright and white. It was so dark I could have had my eyes closed. I could have been asleep instead of standing in my mother’s backyard.

Peter was on his way, flying for the first time in years, so that he could be with me by morning. Here he is in the midnight airport: buying a plane ticket and a magazine he knows he won’t be able to read. Sitting in the bar near the gate, digging in his pockets for stray dollars to pay for the beer. Smiling at the waitress who is distracted, tired. Airports are the loneliest places to be at midnight.

Ma’s body had already been sent to the crematorium. I couldn’t imagine what kind of place that might be. When I tried to picture the building, all I could conjure was a shopping plaza in Phoenix. Target, Bank of America, Safeway, Crematorium. I pictured neon-lit aisles and cashiers in aprons. Gumball machines that dispensed ashes when you put in a quarter and turned the knob. Fake tattoos or Superballs.

It started snowing that night. In a year it is easy to forget how cold winter is. Seasonal amnesia is the only way to survive in climates like this. It is almost impossible to remember the realities of winter when the sun is shining and the sky is bright. I turned on the back porch light and made my way to the shed, where I had left the kittens when the phone rang. They were crying and trying to stay warm. I carried the box into the house and set it next to the couch. I found another blanket and offered it to the mother cat, who would not look at me. I lay down on my stomach on the couch, my head resting on one of Ma’s stiffpillows, watching them wriggle and squirm.

Peter said Chuck Moony would watch Jessica and the house. That he and Leigh would stay there to keep an eye on things while he was gone. He said that Joe could take care of the restaurant, that everything would be fine. But I knew that he was only thinking about getting on the airplane. That he wasn’t talking about the things that wouldn’t be fine. Remembering the time we almost fell from the sky is easier than remembering cold. It’s the kind of recollection that lives in your knees instead of inside your bones. When you think plane crash, there is something tangible. It is easier to imagine than freezing or numb.

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