Inherit the Bones

Chapter Fifty-one

In my dreams, the dead can speak. I greet them by name-Tommy, Andrew, Nicky-and watch as they run in a meadow that is soaked with afternoon sun. They play a game that involves lying still, and then jumping up with shrieks and whoops. Before the afternoon is through, the children’s clothes will be stained with grass and pollen from the hundreds of wildflowers that surround them.

Before long, a little girl and a man join me. The girl takes my right hand, the man, my left. They let me whisper good-bye and then they tug, pulling me with them into the woods.

I leave the meadow.

Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be back again.