Father's Ghost

“Tell me,” Jackie probed, “what did you feel like when your mother committed suicide?”

“I don’t know, it was more than 20 years ago, I don’t remember, I was 12. I guess I felt awful… I mean I know I felt awful. Lola paused, and then abstractly observed, “I remember how dead the atmosphere of the house felt, and the way that my father walked through the rooms for years afterward, like he was a vacant ghost. He pretended that he was strong and stoic, and I know that he didn’t really love my mother, but he still felt like a shadow of something---like all the music of his life was over.”

“Yes Lola, but how did YOU feel?” Jackie insisted.