http://www.writerq.com/willoughby/ Latest updates from willoughy joy http://www.writerq.com/library/953/single-white-light/ This past week Anna noticed her mother setting daily plates of breakfast for her father; then all day long at school she wondered what would happen to these plates of food. Were they thrown away? Did her mother finish them? On returning home each afternoon, there was never anything telling in the garbage cans outside; neither did the kitchen bin give anything away; the plates were always cleaned and put back in the cabinets.
And then a few nights ago, while she lie awake in her bed, Anna heard her mother open the back door and greet her father home from work just as she had always done before. And while the nightly sound of her father's heavy foot steps through the back vestibule had been one for which Anna had routinely stayed awake before turning over and falling asleep, comforted and assured, now her mother's gladdened voice speaking into what Anna could only imagine was empty darkness, filled her with pins. Even Anna's younger sisters, Mary who was six and Jill who was five, had started crawling into bed with Anna and crying themselves to sleep, confused between missing their father and fearing that his ghost was wandering the house. Sometimes Anna looked across the room at little Bernard, there asleep on his cot, seeking a solace she often felt in envying him: he was just a toddler and toddlers didn't know anything about anything.]]> http://www.writerq.com/library/953/single-white-light/ Fri, 13 Jun 2025 19:18:45 +0000 willoughy joy