By Stef Smulders
After so many years, I hardly recognize the man lying in front of me. Scattered over his surprisingly large belly are children’s drawings on bright-colored paper. ‘Dear grandpa’ is written on them.
I didn’t even get to call him ‘Dad.’
Chattering voices interrupt my thoughts. Children enter from the crowded anteroom, followed by an elderly woman, likely his second wife. I nod, even though she can’t know me.
Nobody here does.
“May we close the coffin, Grandma?” the kids ask. “They promised us.”
I cast one last glance at the man I have hardly known and slip out of the room.
Very well written and expressed and painfully familiar.
I was able to visualise the scene through the well-chosen words
Excellent
Very sad. A son/daughter from a first relationship cast aside and ignored. All too familiar
Beautifully written. A sad story and hopefully not a reality.
well done!