“You’re not?”
“Your mother is . . . how can I say this?”
“Weird?” I interjected.
Marie laughed out loud. “Different. Informed. Resilient. But weird? Not a chance. If Kathleen was offering me advice or insight into her beliefs, I’d drop everything and listen. Your mother is connected, Mike. Don’t ask me to explain what the hell that even means but all of her friends sense that about her.”
“Thank you, Marie,” I said, feeling better. I was still confused and questioning reality, but hearing an educated woman of science admit there could be more to life than scientific facts had helped.
“Let me end with this, Mike,” she began. “If thereissomething more after this life, I hope your mother is in my universe again.”
I was surprised by Marie’s word choice ofuniverse. Her kind words about my mother were the same as I’d heard for most of my life. My mother wasunique and well-loved among her friends. Things she did that I may have found odd when I was growing up didn’t seem to faze her friends. Marie was a doctor for Christ’s sake and she thought Mom was normal, so why couldn’t I accept my own mother’s views on our world, even if they did seem highly unusual?
“Are you going to leave something for Mom’s pain in case she needs it?” I asked, interrupting the silence.
“Yes, but I don’t expect that she’ll take it. She’s stubborn and insists she wants the full experience. But yes, I’ll leave you with morphine in case she changes her mind.”
“What’s next?”
“I’m sorry to say this, son, but your mother is going to pass very soon.” Marie released my hand, placed her mug in the sink and then came around the kitchen island to give me a hug from behind. “Her breathing will become shallow and there will be longer intervals between breaths. I can stay until then if you’d like.”
“Please just check on her now and then set me up with the morphine. I’d like to be alone with Mom after that,” I stated. “One other thing, Marie. What do I do when she passes?”
“Call the funeral home. They’ll take it from there and I’ll forward the cause of death directly to them and the county.”
Her words seemed so clinical and unfeeling but I understood that Marie had experienced this many times in her career. Her presence was beyond the normal practice of medicine so I appreciated her and knew her directness came from a good place.
“The transition will be difficult for you, Mike, but keep in mind that Kathleen is suffering terribly. Personally, and I mean this in the best of ways, I’m relieved your mother will no longer be in pain and will be free to move on to her next journey, whatever that is.”
Her kindness was appreciated and her assessment of the end of life surprised me. “You believe there’s something after this life?” I asked.
“Let’s just say I hope there is,” she responded. “I can’t imagine a universe without Kathleen.”
She turned and headed down the hall. “Me neither,” I mumbled.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Mike
Twelve years ago
“What?” I asked, catching Cooper staring at me again. We were in his bedroom doing homework. We went to the gym after school and hadn’t showered yet so I was still in my old gray sweats and he was in his boxers.
“Nothing,” he answered, looking away and relocating the cursor on his laptop, pretending to get back to our assignment.
“You were staring at me again, dude,” I protested.
“Am not.”
“Are so,” I responded.
“I’m not,” he whined. “I was just noticing how big your arms are getting,” he admitted.
“So . . . that means you were looking at me.”
“I’m just jealous, is all, Mikey.”
“Of my arms or that Jennifer gets to touch all this?” I dared, alternately kissing both biceps.
“Never mind,” he mumbled, instantly shutting down at any mention of my girlfriend Jennifer who was the hottest girl at our school.
