excerpt
…moment to gaze at the peaceful faces. Susie’s light brown hair lay
entangled, partly over the pillow and partly over her freckled nose.
Just like when she’s awake, a little wild even in sleep.
Katie lay face up, her lips parted slightly as though a pleasant
dream had made her smile. Darker hair than her sister’s framed the
doll-like features in smooth waves that would probably be just as
unruffled when she awakened in the morning. Tyne shook her head
in wonder at this serene child of hers and, as she turned to leave, marvelled
anew at the difference in these children who had been formed
together in her body.
At Bobby’s door she hesitated a moment, not wanting to intrude
without knocking in case he was still awake. But when she heard his
gentle snore, she looked in. He lay, as he always did, with arms over
his head. From the light coming in from the hallway, she satisfied
herself that he was covered and sound asleep, no doubt to remain that
way until his alarm clock told him another school day had arrived.
Down the hall, Tyne heard a radio playing softly – if the songs
the Beatles belted out could be described that way. Now, now, Tyne,
don’t be old fashioned. Old fashioned or not, she thought, as she quietly
pushed open the door to Rachael’s room, I still prefer Sinatra and
Como and Pat Boone, and oh yes, Elvis is pretty good, too.
Tyne quietly crossed to the bed and looked down on her sleeping
daughter. Rachael lay face up, her arms akimbo, her smooth cheeks
smeared with traces of tears. Tyne sighed, her throat filling as she
recalled another night almost ten years ago when Rachael lay just like
this with tears drying on her face. The day that she and Morley had
to tell Rachael and Bobby their mother would not be coming home
from hospital had seared itself into Tyne’s memory forever.
But what could be distressing the girl so much at this time in
her life that she had cried herself to sleep? What had happened on
Saturday night that had made Rachael so troubled and morose as she
had been since then?
Manolis Aligizakis 