Autumn’s Hesitant Arrival
立秋 [3] / [9]
He got up, went to the kitchen, fished a bottle of whiskey out of the cabinet, and poured himself a large glass. It was going to be a long night.
When he was about to sip his 3rd glass of whiskey, his phone rang from the bedroom where it sat on the bed itself. He didn't move and didn't even intend to answer it. The ringing stopped. He gulped another glass. Then it rang again. He got to his feet, and went to the room to pick up the phone. It was a call from Cynthia. He hurriedly answered the phone.
"Hi," he spoke brightly as if trying to deny the dark clouds in his heart,
"How is everything going?"
"Hi, uh, my aunt passed away. I'm going to prepare her funeral. I will be back home when―"
"I will go there. I have the address you gave me before you left. I'll be there by next morning. Don't try to keep me from coming anymore, honey. I should be next you."
He said rather desperately. He really needed to meet her, embrace and love her. She sounded like she was sniffing.
"Thank you. I will see you then,"
she said.
It wasn't a very smooth process getting plane tickets to Cincinnati, even for a red-eye flight, under such short notice. It took 3 hours of flying to get there from where he was, in fact.
Because of the distance from the airport, it's was 6 a. m. before he arrived at Cynthia's aunt's home. The house was in a small secluded town outside the big city.
Cynthia's Aunt Patricia was 68, with no children. Her siblings, with the exception of Cynthia's mom, who preceded her in death, didn't come, and, since that time, family relationships had been strained for reasons largely unknown to Cynthia. She had suffered from cataracts, dementia and cancer for quite a long time, and she could barely recognize anyone. The people who attended the funeral were few, who were acquainted with her through the local church she used to attend.
Her body was cremated after a few hours, and turned into a light ash, vulnerable even to a feeble breeze. Cynthia didn't cry. All she knew was that Patricia was her mother's favorite sibling when she was alive, even though Cynthia herself didn't have any particular memories with her.
