A Keeper's Truth Read Online Free PDF

she
leans close, “Meyer?”
    I focus on
a piece of broken sidewalk, keeping the amount of air I intake equal to the
amount I exhale, allowing no room for stale air to linger in my lungs. I need
to think rationally. What did I really see? Nothing, it had to be nothing. I’ve
never even met Sonia, so why would I think the woman was her? She wasn’t real.
He wasn’t real. It was a daydream, a vivid daydream.
    Karen
guides me to a bench. “Talk to me,” she says. “Did someone look like Meyer,
sweetheart?”
    What do I
say? Should I tell her the truth? Like that would go over well. And Karen can’t
keep a secret. Grams will freak if she hears I’m hallucinating.
    “Yeah,
Karen, he looked just like Meyer.”
    “I didn’t
notice anyone who reminded me of Meyer.” Karen speaks softly, every word
pronounced as if consoling a child. “There is a phenomenon where someone
recognizes a facial pattern or something like that, and I suppose
hallucinations and flashbacks are a normal part of the grieving process, a
stage.”
    That’s it.
A stage, a sleep deprived daydream and nothing more. I’ve been under a lot of
stress and my body is reacting, like when I lost all that hair.
    “You
should speak with someone, you know. A doctor or grief counselor. Frank could
recommend a good therapist, someone to help you through the rough spots.”
    “I’m fine.
I’ll be fine.” I have to be. There is no way I’m telling a doctor this shit.
He’ll say I’m nuts and take Abby from me. It’s the very reason my mother, with
all her faults, didn’t seek the help she needed. Death was a lesser fate.
    Karen
grins. “Maybe a shrink will tell you to get laid.”
    A chuckle
escapes me. I take it Grams never mentioned BOB. I fiddle with my wedding ring.
I’ve lost weight, and it slides on and off with ease. Physically anyway.
    Maybe
Karen is right. Maybe I’ve been cooped up too long. Maybe I need time outside
my head, a little adult interaction. Maybe I should go to that Halloween party.
    How bad
could it be?

Trick or Treat
October 31st, Halloween

 
 
    Some
scientists believe Earth’s first civilization, the Lemurians ,
were the Adam and Eve of mankind. Little is known about Lemurian culture, most tangled in ancient myth predating the written word. This theory,
even when substantiated, is not popular. In fact, it borders on forbidden.

 
    Forgotten
History Magazine : Archeological Finds Baffle Scientists

 
 
    A bby is so
full of pulsating energy she has difficulty sitting through dinner, and her
eyes dart to the clock every few minutes, which is funny since she can’t tell
time. Peas lie scattered across the kitchen table, shot in all directions by
anxious little hands having trouble holding a fork. The juice has been tipped
over twice. I can’t bear another minute, so I excuse her from the table,
smiling as she makes a beeline for Gramps, Keds in
full throttle.
    Grams and
Gramps wouldn’t miss tonight for the world. Since Abby was a baby they’ve
planned their annual Florida migration around Halloween. They usually spend
winters there, to warm old bones , Grams says, but I suspect this year’s
escape has more to do with Meyer’s death than their eighty-year-old bones.
Gramps has always been a proud man, a quiet man. So much so, I used to think he
didn’t like me. But he had a hand in making Meyer the good man he was, having
raised him when his parents died, and no man wishes to outlive two generations
of sons. He’s barely uttered a word since Meyer’s funeral, and Grams is
worried.
    I stab
peas, three and four at a time, popping them into my mouth. I’ve given up
trying to collect them with the cloth as they keep rolling to the floor. I
should get a dog, a self-propelled food vacuum. I track Grams, currently the
big bad wolf, chasing Abby around the living room.
    “ Ahhhh ,” Abby screams, launching herself into the couch.
    “I think
I’ll eat an angel for dinner tonight,” Grams growls, hands over her