The Unknowing

Her silhouette can be seen day after day, as she stands staring out the window

waiting for her family to visit

she sees people passing by, staring...pointing up at the poor lonely lady whose relations have abandoned her

She never leaves the house...there are people who live in the house with her...but they are not family

She has forgotten who they are...

No one comes to take her to appointments anymore...where are the children - Joan, Mike, Rache.

It seems like years have passed, but it's more like a dream from which she is not waking up

Life happens outside the window...people laugh, quarrel and cry. Children play loudly - enjoying their youth...oblivious to her loneliness

But today, something is different.

Cars have arrived. Her children step from the open doors. Young children, her grandchildren, tumble out, loud and rowdy- but she welcomes the noise.

The key grates as it turns in the front door, as if it had not been opened for a long time.

She hears voices...

"It's been a year Rache. It's time to sell. We need to clear the house out for the sale".

"I agree with Joan". Mike said, sadness in his voice.

"But Mother was always against selling, why the hurry to get rid of it"?

"Do you want to live here, Rache"?

"Well, no...but...".

She stood on the stairs watching, listening to them argue about her house. As if she were not there.

"Well, we can't afford to keep it empty any longer. The lawyers have finally sorted out the paperwork. Mom and Dad made a big mess of it".

Empty. But what about the people who live downstairs?

Joan turned, yelled at the kids for silence, then walked right through her mother's form and up the stairs...she sneezed.

Bless you...Her mother whispered.

Mother is confused. Then, slowly... it all began to make sense.

She knows why they had not come visiting all these months.

She was no longer in the land of the living. She had returned to find them. But they had long moved out.

She was the thing that came back...along with the other visitors who live downstairs, as if life had not changed.

She watched them begin going through her things. Lester had been gone five years now. He had made his peace...moved on.

Now it was her turn to find the light.

It took them three days to clear it all out. She stayed until the house was emptied of memories...of her children and grandchildren.

One child had sensed her...reaching toward the space where she stood, a question on her face.

The echoes were unbearable after they left.

Then Lester returned. ..Taking her hand...leading her into the light.

Someday...she mused...they will all come back to her.