Oh, Green World!

A Visit to the Angels

Toby asked where Aunt Jenna was today, and why mom was crying so much.

I told him that Aunt Jenna left for a little while.

“Will she ever come back?”

I shook my head and felt my eyes start to water, but I knew I couldn’t cry in front of him.

“No, Tobes. She won’t be coming back.”

“Is she going to visit the angels?”

I’m raised in an atheist family, but Tobes is still so small that he thinks that angels are just... Angels. He doesn’t understand religion yet, and we don’t mind if he does decide to become Christian. My parents always asked if I wanted to go to church, they offered to take me and stuff, I just never believed in it so I never went. But if Toby decides that’s what he believes that’s fine with us, and we don’t stop him from saying such things.

“Yes. She’s going to visit the angels.”

“How long will she be there?”

I hesitated.

“We don’t know yet. If she’s having a good time she may never come back.”

He started crying and I hugged him.

“It’s alright, Tobes. She’s having a good time. She’s in a good place.”

“She is?”

“Yes, she is.”

It pained me to realize that I actually didn’t think she was; I thought she was in the ground. Dead.

“Will Mr. Rock hug her too?”

He kept crying and I hugged him closer.

“Yes, sweetie. He’ll hug her too. But she’ll be far away from the pain.”