“Becca, be a dear and take this to the table,” Aunt Carol says handing her niece a steaming pot of mashed potatoes. Hastily, Becca complies and then continues her game of chase with the little ones downstairs. “If I only had their energy!” comments grandpa as Becca speeds past. Aunt Carol smiles as she stirs the gravy wiping the spilt excess off the stove then alters the subject into chiropractic doctors for his back. “Carol, don’t be so worried,” grandpa teases, “I don’t feel a day older than 50.”
In the living room, the young couple Natalie and her husband Eli are perched on the fireplace talking to Uncle John and his wife Katherine about their summer vacation in Italy. “I’ve been dying to go to Tuscany!” exclaims Katherine stroking her plump lap dog with her exquisitely manicured nails. Burly uncle John’s giant palms rest on her delicate shoulder and jokes, “Another thing to put on the list!”. Natalie and Eli laugh in harmonious pitches complimenting each other perfectly.
“Dinner!” yells Aunt Carol. Everyone huddles around the dining table.
The bathroom door is closed. Roy flushes the toilet quietly and slides out of the bathroom without a sound. He pulls a neatly sealed card from his coat pocket and hands it to Becca as she trots up the stairs. “Happy birthday,” he smiles. She rips it open plucking the twenty dollar bill out. Quickly, she thanks him and runs over to be seated next to her favorite cousin Lindsey, the one with a butterfly tattoo on her hip.
Aunt Carol encourages Roy to sit next to her and her husband, soft spoken Sam. Roy joins them at the end of the table. He lays his napkin on his lap and grazes his eyes over the selection of food. Finally, he spoons himself a modest bowl of soup against his will (his recent weight gain prompted him to cut back).
Light-hearted conversation is sprinkled over the table. First Uncle John tells the story of how he caught “ole’ big eyes” last weekend at the lake, proceeded by grandpa’s ten year old fish tale, and then Natalie and Eli’s future expedition through Lake Champlain. Roy was about to chime in with a funny story at a lake involving one of his work colleges, but he remembered his current unemployment status and decided against it. Anyways, the conversation had already carried on to another topic, air travel. He smiled and laughed on cue knowing suspicious eyes were watching for weakness.
At 7:00, Roy eventually left reluctantly to his empty home. Only Aunt Carol leaned in for a hug before he left, but her open sympathy just put him in a worse mood. In his small home, he watched Dateline and went to bed at promptly 10:30.
Lying in bed, he felt the silence perturb the room. It opened the door like an unwelcomed guest slithering in suffocating every corner, sucking life from his body, and thrashing his world. Roy tried muffling the sound by holding a pillow to his ears but the sound only got louder. Sshhhhh. It moaned and whined but the silence couldn’t be quieted. “I don’t want to be alone!” he cried, but the silence only echoed his fear. Roy knew it was too late.
The next morning Roy took out the trash while an elderly couple sat on their porch drinking coffee. “Morning Patty! Roger!” he called gently opening the bin. They waved, “Hello Roy”.
“Say mister, why is a nice boy like you single?” asked Patty smiling with a hint of sympathy. Roy smiled back but said nothing as he walked inside. “What’s wrong with him?” Roger asked rubbing his stubble. “Just rude, I suppose,” answered Patty rocking back in her chair.
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