Still there hadn’t been cars on the road. But was that normal? He didn’t know. The battery for his laptop had died years before and he didn’t need it as a laptop, where was he going? He just needed a computer. His phone might have just died, who knew when he last charged it. His doubt kept circling his mind as he pushed through his front door.
“Ma,” The house was hot. It was too hot for her to wait in and he had wished he left the windows open.
He paused hoping to hear her rummaging around in her room. He called for her again, but there was no answer. He tapped his knuckles on her bedroom door. The door opened slightly. He braced not sure why or what he was feeling. He pushed the door open.
Her room was neat. He hadn’t really been in it since they had switched. Everything was clean and neat like he had expected. There was a picture of the family on the nightstand next to her Bible. He called for her again and even took a few cautious steps into the room to see if the bathroom door showed anything, but she wasn’t here.
He saw her when he turned around and left her room. Sitting on the couch, her hands folded as if in prayer on her cane with her head rested on then. He called her again, but she didn’t move. Had she fallen asleep? The few steps he took toward her felt like slow-motion as he reached out. He called her but she didn’t move.
He sat next to her putting his arm around her. Shaking her gently, “Ma,” he tried. But he knew she was gone. She had just closed her eyes and passed.
He felt a shutter rise from within his chest at the same time the AC kicked on. The fan began whirling and he could hear his computer start up. The microwave let out a beep of protest as it turned on and demanded someone to enter in the time.