IS IT SAFE TO LOOK AT THE MOON?

A Story of Life

A Story of Life

At 78 she thought she was ready to go home. Home, where Mom and Pop were. She also thought she was tired. Tired of counting her pennies. Tired of her aches and pains. Tired of her sisters.

She sniffed. Tears welled in her eyes. Remembering, how her two younger sisters treated her with disrespect. She was much older than them, about five years. They screamed at her when she could not remember things, like making her bed, like turning off the light in the bathroom, like calling them. She resisted calling them. She knew she was going to be scolded. Therefore, it was no problem to her not to call them.

When her beloved husband passed, she knew she had to call them. They did come to his funeral, even donated a sum of money to help with the expenses. To her dismay, before they left, they assumed she was going to sell the house. They expected to be informed of the sale and the amount she was to get. They wanted her to help fund the schooling of her nieces, three of them.

She did not want to tell them she had debts, debts so large, the money out of the sale of the house hardly covered the debts. She was devastated when they got furious. Their anger reached the point of hatred, in their eyes, words that stung from their mouths, disgust at her for not heeding their request.

She sat on her bed that morning, crying to herself. She wanted to die right there and then. She got off the bed. The dizzy spells that had been a bother to her during the last few weeks suddenly got hold of her. She could not focus, she felt sick to her stomach, and then there was nothing.

She did not know how long she had been on the floor. She heard knocking on her door. She could not speak. Her throat was dry, awfully dry, it felt like her whole mouth was about ready to be ripped into pieces. The knocking continued. She tried to get off the floor, twice she fell back. And then the knocking stopped. In the silence, in her apartment she laid still, crying softly.

Three days later, she awoke in a hospital bed. The people around her were faces of strangers. She looked for her sisters among the strangers. She turned to her side, convinced her sisters were not among them. She knew then, she must forgive them.