NOTE: This is not a story by me. I saved this story from a classmate who I only know as Jen in NY, but it was so good I wanted to share it here
"It had been almost a year since her husband passed away, her mother helped her realize it was time to clean out his closet. She braced herself and opened the door. There were his suits, color coordinated, three still in the plastic from the dry cleaners. His shoes all in a perfect line. For a moment she was blinded and had to shield her eyes. She thought it was the light hitting off the shine of his shoes. Then she realized the light was coming from something inside the closet. She kneeled down and followed the light. She found a silver box hiding behind the only thing her husband had owned that was worn, his suitcase.
She didn’t recognize the box and there was a lock, but it was just hanging there. She took it and went to sit on the bed she shared with her husband. Not one thing had touched his side of the bed, including her, since he’d been gone. She sat there now with her husband’s mysterious box. She felt her body settle in and a bolt of pain seared through her body. She lied down and put her head on his pillow. She hadn’t changed his pillow case and she could still smell him. The grief overwhelmed her and took over.
She was only three months pregnant, but the cravings had started almost from the beginning. Every night that week she craved something different. The first night was cookies and cream ice cream, the second night it was fried chicken, the third night it was buffalo wings, the fourth night it was chocolate, anything and everything that was chocolate. He came back with chocolate bars, cake, ice cream and chocolate covered pretzels. The fifth and fateful night she wanted a cheeseburger and fries. And like every other night he went out to get them for her. He should have been back in a half hour but she kept looking out the window and there was no sign of him. At first she was counting every minute because she was so hungry, but when an hour had passed she began to panic. She started to call all the food places he could have gone. He had been going there so much that they all knew him by first name. But no one had seen him.
It had been raining that night, hard. The cops say he didn’t even see the truck coming.
The tears seemed to take a break and she was able to sit up. She looked at the beautiful silver box and decided it looked brand new. She opened the top and there was another box inside, this one was blue, she recognized it immediately. She hadn’t realized she was shaking until she picked up the Tiffany box. She pulled on the white ribbon and opened the box. A horrible noise came from her throat. Sitting exactly in the middle of a cloud of cotton was a #1 Mom charm. "
Jen in NY
Anyone need a tissue?
