The Taste of Air by Gail Cleare

Author:Gail Cleare [Cleare, Gail]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Red Adept Publishing, LLC
Published: 2016-09-22T04:00:00+00:00

The next ones to die. Would it be Nell first or her sister? It was all so hard to grasp. The changes were happening so fast.

It seemed like yesterday that they were little girls in pigtails with red ribbons, sitting on Santa’s lap while Daddy took their picture with the home-movie camera. Now they were adults, rushing toward death on the downward slope.

When it was her turn in front of the butcher, Nell asked for chicken and watched the plump, red-cheeked man wrap the meat in white paper. After picking up a couple of other things, she got in line at the cash register. The room throbbed around her as she stood there spacing out. She heard the little bell ring on the front door as someone entered, and then there was a warm hand on her elbow as Adam said, “Nell? Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?”

Nell swayed on her feet, clutching the shopping basket.

“Come here a second. Have a seat.” He led her over to a table.

He went away for a minute and came back with two cups of tea, stirred sugar into one of them, and put it in her hand. “Sweet tea. My mother always said it’s the best thing for a shock. You look like you need it.”

Nell sipped it, feeling the warm sweetness begin to bring her back. She looked over at him. “Mom is getting worse, not better. I think she’s dying.” Her voice creaked as her throat tightened.

Adam put his hand over hers, and it covered her like a warm blanket. “I hope not. But if so, at least she’ll know she was loved, Nell. Because you had a chance to tell her.”

Nell nodded, but the background noises pounded in her head, and she searched her pockets for a tissue to wipe her watery eyes.

“When it comes by surprise with no time to get ready, that’s the worst,” Adam said. “Never knowing how much people loved you.”

She realized he was talking about his mother.

“Everyone always says they want to die in bed, to just not wake up one day. But that’s the same as dying in an accident… you never get to say good-bye.” His voice was breaking up too.

“It’s much harder on the family when it happens that way, isn’t it?” Nell whispered, understanding.

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