New Worlds, Old Ways by Karen Lord

Author:Karen Lord
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 2016-10-21T04:00:00+00:00

Damion Wilson

Daddy

Bermuda

It was the day I buried my sister that I discovered my father could teleport.

Bobbi, the second daughter, the precious child who could do no wrong, had died an addict’s death, gasping her final breaths into her squat’s dusty carpet. Her stoned companions failed to rouse in time to help her, if they even tried at all.

At the time, I recalled astonishment that she’d outlived Mom, who’d squandered what life remained in her chemo-ravaged body zealously shielding Bobbi from any attempts at intervention.

Mom had succumbed to denial. Nothing and no one could convince her to stop abetting Bobbi’s lifestyle, even as destructive as it had become.

Dad had doted on Mom with a saint’s patience, but she would still berate him and dismiss his attempts to appease her. Even as he misplaced his keys and struggled to recall the names of dear friends, his efforts to be close to her, his beloved wife, seemed to be in vain.

It hurt me to lose my father to that tumultuous time.

* * *

We had gathered at Mom’s bedside. The pumps and monitors had been switched off, and the nurses had removed the tubes and wires. They’d even brushed her hair, teasing what little was left of it into a semblance of dignity.

Alec and I had married not long before, our union forged just in time for this horrible trial. I remembered how he had cradled my head while whispering soft reassurances.

When the moment Mom finally left us had come and gone, the tears I had expected to release me never arrived. Instead, leaden numbness filled my limbs.

Dad was a picture of strength, though. His soul no longer burdened by angst and melancholy, he seemed even to have grown taller. I was so proud of him at that moment, his cheeks glistening, his eyes reflecting the kind relief that only a cancer death can deliver.

Bobbi stood stoic next to the hospital bed, holding our mother’s lifeless hand for nearly ten minutes as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, humming something. Then, without comment, she left. I didn’t expect to see her next as a corpse.

“Dad . . .” I began, after Bobbi’s footsteps had echoed away.

He turned to face me and smiled, “Tanya . . .”

My lips began to move, but he placed his finger on my lips.

“Shush,” he said to me, deep brown eyes gazing into mine. “It’s all okay now. It’s all forgiven.”

“Forgiven?” I whispered, clutching Alec’s arm more tightly.

He nodded wisely and, against reason, I willed myself to believe it.

* * *

So it was, years later, at Bobbi’s not so well-attended funeral, that I stood alone, dressed in whatever finery I could dust off. My wedding band told a fiction that only I still entertained.

The pastor droned his eulogy to the echoes of that deserted church hall. Bobbi’s friends couldn’t even pass up one hit just to see her off.

By then, Dad wasn’t in any kind of shape to attend. He’d lost much of his ability to

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.