A Death

 Chapter Nine – Death and a New Beginning

One cold March morning after working all night, I rode the bus back to the house. As usual, I was very tired. I caught the bus to the High Street in Palmers Green then took the 10-minute walk to the house. I was eating some breakfast before I went to bed when the phone rang. 

There were two phones in the house, one in the entryway and one in my landlady’s room. I didn’t get calls so I didn’t answer. Trish was usually stirring by the time I got home in the morning, getting ready for the day. She answered the phone and called out to let me know that it was for me. I picked up the phone in the entryway. 

“Hello”

        “Hi, Stephen, it’s mum.”

I was surprised to hear my mom’s voice. My parents were back in New Zealand at the time having a long-overdue vacation and afterwards my dad was speaking at some DTS’s.

        “Oh, hi.”

Why was my mom calling? If my parents ever called, it was usually my dad. She continued,

        “I’ve got some very bad news.” 

My mind raced. I had no clue what it might be. I paused, wanting to give her time. Whatever it was, I knew it would be hard for her to tell me so I wanted to let her collect her courage. When I thought sufficient time had passed I finally replied,

        “Go ahead.”

        “It’s about dad. He had a massive heart attack while he was out jogging and he passed away.”

I was stunned. My mind didn’t quite comprehend what she was saying but I was still thinking about how hard this was for her and wanted to keep it together for her sake. Then my emotions just took over. At first I felt a pressure squeezing in on me, then my emotions just pushed out and overtook me in waves. I began to sob.

My mom wanted to make sure I was okay. I didn’t know what to say. I was sad for her but I felt helpless. There was no way I had enough money to fly literally half way around the world to New Zealand. She let me know that my sister, Joy was coming from Hong Kong for the funeral and my brother, Samuel from Hawaii. She wanted me to come and would take care of the cost. I needed to leave as soon as possible.

I took the bus back to work to let them know what was going on. They gave me an advance against the hours I had already worked and I got the earliest flight I could find. I flew West through the US again and south to New Zealand.

As I traveled, I had a kind of numbness. Here were all these people bustling around in the airports I was passing through, off to who-knows-where, living their realities while this huge upheaval had just taken over mine. It was surreal. Their lives carried on in the midst of mine being at a standstill.

One of my dad's last pictures in NYC


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