Dad
Died
The
only people who were allowed to the after funeral diner were the people who
actually showed up to the viewing and funeral. Between my brother and I there
were about five of my dad’s close friends. He wasn’t a popular guy but he sure
knew more people than the five who sat quietly around one of the circular
tables. I had planned for at least ten tables. That would come out of my pocket somehow. I didn’t
care.
“Hey,
Mikie, do you remember that swing in the back of our old house?” I asked my brother
who was cutting a dry steak.
“No.”
“You
know. The tire swing that dad used to push us on? You have to remember. He
would never push me longer than two minutes because you would be yelling about
having your turn.”
“No.
I don’t remember.” He washed that terrible steak down with some terrible
champagne.
“Michael.
The tire swing. You have to remember.
It was right behind the house! Whenever it would rain a little puddle would be underneath
it and we wouldn’t be able to swing on it until it dried up three days later!”
I leaned over the table. “The tire swing… he would push me on it while I waited
for the bus to pick me up in the morning.”
“Alison,
if you don’t stop carrying on about this tire swing I’m going to leave.” He was
finished with his meal before I had the chance to even pick at mine. All of the
other men were grabbing their coats from coat rack in the door way. I watched
the servers pick up their plates and head to the kitchen. I never ended up
finishing my meal. Hell, I didn’t even start it. I felt too crazy to even find
the strength to pick up my fork.
It
was a nice day. The school kids were walking home and the high school
sweethearts were holding hands and laughing. It reminded me of the time my
boyfriend had cheated on me a week before prom and I was left alone with a
hundred dollar dress, a forty dollar ticket, and a broken heart. He saw the two
of them holding hands in the parking lot as we pulled away and watched for my
reaction. I didn’t have one.
He
cried the entire way home. He told me that my boyfriend was an idiot to be
doing that to me and he couldn’t believe that a girl like me could have been
thrown away for someone so bland. He said if a girl like me even looked his way
in high school he would drop dead. It was a quiet ride home.
Flash
forward to dad’s funeral day and I had finally reached the old house on Baker
Street. There were two big shrubs that parted in the middle where there was a
walk way. I parked in front and walked towards the front door. The paint was
faded but it was still that baby blue I remember. There was a baby stroller on
the front porch next to a doll house and a couple of pool toys. Not a single
noise was heard on the street. Not even a gust of wind blew.
I
walked towards the back of the house and saw the old oak tree. There was some
sort of shredding machine stationed next to it. They were going to cut down the
tree that my grandfather had planted when my father was born.
“Excuse
me, ma’am? Can I help you with something?” A woman in a night gown walked
toward me. She was young and beautiful.
“Are
you cutting down this tree here?
“What?
I…yes, why?”
“This
might sound strange but I was wondering if I could pay you for that branch
right there.” I pointed to a branch that jutted out at one of the lower parts
of the tree. The entire branch was a dark brown other than the small piece that
was worn away by the rope that once held that tire swing. Underneath it was a
small groove in the Earth. That was where my feet wore out the ground and the
water would sit for days.
“I’m
sure I could… I mean if you’d like I can…” She looked at me strangely. If some
random stranger dressed in black snuck around in my backyard and asked about a
tree branch I would look at her the same way.
“How
much would you like for it?”
“I
don’t need your money for a tree branch. What I need is to ask my neighbor to
cut it down.”
“Do
you have a hand saw in that shed over there?”
“Why,
yes I do.”
Two
hours later I was driving home with a long tree branch sticking out the two
back windows of my car. I might have looked crazy but at least I didn’t feel
it.
