PROMPT: write about someone who had passed to the other side

muscat, sultanate of oman, 1986

i think it was september or october. i was alone in my bedroom, writing a letter to auntie nene. we had just had a heavy storm, and from my bedroom window, i could see the muddy water running down the low hill on the other side of the property, like brown little ribbons cascading down the barren hill. the clouds had lifted but the general outlook outside was still gloomy.

i had left my bedroom door open as christine, the british girl who was sharing the apartment with me, was spending the weekend at her boyfriend's apartment. she had left the night before and she also left her bedroom door open. our bedroom doors were right opposite each other.

i felt movements in the apartment. i attributed this to air pressure in the building. you know, how your doors would suddenly shut close when another door anywhere in the building would be shut; or how the pilot light in your stove would get extinguished; or the eerie way the curtains would sway just so.

i finished my letter, folded it, placed it inside an envelope and then sealed it. i knew i had just bought some omani stamps the day before and i knew i left them on the credenza in the dining room so i got up to get the stamps. i thought i heard footsteps or heard a "rustle" of movements. i thought they were footsteps but knowing i was alone in the apartment, i didn't think it was anything. it was at this point that i glanced at my bedroom door and i thought i saw someone passed by going towards christine's bedroom.

"christine?" i called out. the envelope fell on the floor and i bent down to pick it up. between looking at the door and looking down reaching for the envelope, i thought i saw a face and it was auntie's face. very briefly, as briefly as a bat of the eyelash. it made me think maybe she was sick or something. i found the stamps in the dining room and drove to post office to mail my letter.

several weeks later, i received a letter from my auntie estrella saying that auntie nene had died - on the date that i wrote my letter.

c.v.summerfield, Oct. 31, 2009