In less than a year, she was gone.
By December, I was making it through. In a way.
Taking a shower, making rent, and simply getting by.
However, I was upset with myself for failing to save my mother and with everyone else who still had theirs.
I stood in Mom’s kitchen on Christmas Eve and gazed at her antique roasting pan.
I nearly skipped the cooking.
Her voice, however, remained firm and unyielding: “It’s for someone who needs it.”
By December, I was making it through.
I therefore created what I could. Just enough to give someone who might be going hungry for Christmas a warm meal.
baked chicken. Mashed potatoes right away. Green beans in a can. cornbread mix in a box.
I packed it as she usually did.
Grasping the steering wheel as if it were the only thing keeping me upright, I drove to the laundromat.
The structure had the same appearance. lights that flicker. a buzzing indicator. smells soapy.
However, what I observed within was quite different.
However, what I observed within was quite different.
Eli was there.
But not the way I recalled.
Not a hoodie. Not a blanket. Avoid using plastic bags.
He was dressed in a dark suit. pressed. tidy. His shoulders were back and he stood tall.
He had white lilies in one hand.
I went cold.
He was dressed in a dark suit.
He pivoted. saw me. His eyes immediately softened and began to well up with tears.”You came,” he replied in an emotionally charged voice.”Eli?” I muttered.
He gave a nod. “Yeah… it’s me.”
Like a fool, I held up the supper bag. “I brought food.”
He gave a wobbly, melancholy smile. “She taught you well… your mother.”
His eyes immediately softened and began to well up with tears.
I took a deep breath. “Why are you dressed like… that?”
Eli gazed at the blooms he was holding.It’s for your mother.
My heart was pounding. “She’s gone.”I am aware. I am certain that she is.
I could hardly hear him pronounce the following line since my heart was pounding so loudly.”Why are you dressed that way?””Abby, I tried to find you after the funeral,” he remarked. “I didn’t want to bother anyone. However, there was something I needed you to know. Until I could demonstrate that I was no longer just a guy in a corner, your mother urged me not to tell you.”
I couldn’t decide which frightened me more. or what he was about to say or what he knew.What was it that she concealed?
The harsh plastic chairs by the dryers were where we took a seat. The fragrance of ancient flooring and new clothes filled the air.
Eli set the blooms next to him as if they were fragile.
I couldn’t decide which frightened me more.
“Do you remember getting lost at the county fair when you were little?” he asked in a low voice.
A shiver ran up my back.
Slowly, I nodded. “I thought I’d imagined that.”You didn’t.He hesitated. “You rushed to me in tears. I was only passing past the rides.
I blinked. “A cop found me.””You were taken from me by a cop,” he clarified. “But I found you first.”
A shiver ran up my back.
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