I was smiling at my cat as I walked in the door. Just a stupid, inane smile that I reserve for my animals. When I looked up, my mother sat staring at me. There was no smile; her face was drawn and white and old.
I dropped the cat and went to her.
“Mama, what is it?” I said. “Is Grandpa OK?”
I guess you never think about tragedy striking closer to home, until one day it does. Without a word, my mother turned around the computer monitor to face me. There was the announcement, in plain words on the screen.
My father was dead. I was looking at the newspaper article telling how it happened. I suppose it’s not important how he died, but it struck me like an H-bomb to the chest.
That night, my cat ran away. I never saw my cat – or my father – again.