Mum is making breakfast in the kitchen, and I can already smell the fatty bacon and salty eggs. I realize I am hungry as hell and I am kind of running down the stairs almost breaking my god damn neck.
My dad is reading the newspaper as I am coming in. He just nods when he sees me which meant he didn’t drink his morning coffee yet and didn’t have the ability to speak. Sounds funny, but he is always like that. My old pal needs his caffeine to get it rolling.
I am soaking in the food like I haven’t eaten for days, and I am thinking about my essay which I probably won’t even finish, when the telephone starts ringing.
Mum picked up. I saw how the color slowly disappeared from her face. It was strange, because mum was always calm and red in the cheeks. She hung up but didn’t complain about the early call. She sat down with a very confused face expression.
-Honey, what’s the matter? Who called?- I noticed that dad saw the same as I did, because he asked her that instead of taking another slurp from his cup.
-It’s Bob. I mean, Jane called…He died last night.-
-Carter?
-Yes.- she said, her voice getting lost in the distance.
Jane was her childhood friend. They grew up together in a small town near Philadelphia and ended up going to the same college where Bob and dad went. Eventually they started dating, then married and continued living here. They were quite good friends now, and once in a while Bob and Jane would come over for brunch on Saturdays.
The next thing I saw was my dad hugging my mum who started crying. Her cries turned into sobs until she finally calmed down a bit.
-When’s the funeral?-
-On Sunday.-she sobbed again. –But we should visit them today after work. They probably won’t go anywhere.- another sob.- and Cherry and Marie won’t go to school. They need all the help they can get.
When mum mentioned Cherry, it was like someone poured a bucket of cold water on me. She was my age, only a few months older than me which she always used as an excuse to boss me and the other kids we hanged out with around. She was just annoying and used to tease me all the time. Since we started High School, we’d only had a few brief encounters. I even stopped saying ‘Hi’ when I see her.
