Yesterday, it should have been simple.
A cake.
Music.
Too much pizza.
Five noisy kids who pretended not to be bothered by my singing.
Instead, I woke up this morning still hearing Thomas's voice.
"I should have given you this ten years ago."
"I should have given you this ten years ago."
I could still feel in my palm the weight of what he had given me.
To understand why I was breathless when I saw him, you need to know who my sister was.
***
Sarah was only two years older than me, but she spent our entire childhood taking care of me as if she were my second mother.
When she married Paul, I didn't lose a sister; I gained another home.
She spent our entire childhood taking care of me as if she were my second mother.
Every Sunday afternoon, I would enter through the back door without knocking.
Five children were running up before I even reached the kitchen.
Thomas always arrived first, convinced that he could take biscuits without me noticing.
Sarah rolled her eyes. "He gets that from your side of the family."
Paul always gave the same answer: "He got that from whoever made the cookies."
Five children were running up before I even reached the kitchen.
This house never stayed quiet for more than thirty seconds.
There was always someone laughing.
There was always someone chasing someone else.
Before, I thought it was chaos.
Now I know that it was peace.
At the time, I was 25 years old. I had just gotten married. I only had two semesters left before obtaining my degree.
Greg and I had very simple dreams. A first house. My degree. Children of our own, one day.
I thought ordinary dreams lasted forever.
But that's not the case.
Greg and I had very simple dreams.
***
One rainy Monday afternoon, my phone rang while I was sitting in the university library.
I almost didn't pay attention. The caller ID showed "Unknown".
For reasons I will never understand, I replied.
Un gendarme m'a demandé si je connaissais Sarah et Paul.
Le temps qu’il ait fini de parler, je ne savais plus comment me tenir debout.
Un camion qui roulait à toute vitesse avait franchi la ligne médiane.
Aucun des deux n'a survécu.
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