Peter Baltensperger is a Canadian writer of Swiss origin and the author of ten books of various genres. His work has also appeared in several hundred print and on-line publications over the past several decades. He lives in London, Canada.
A Kind of Grieving
Gwendolyn Holbrook refused to believe that the lifeless bundle her husband was carrying into their house in his arms was her own daughter Tina. How could it have been. She drove her to school herself that morning, the same friendly, exuberant, eager girl she always was. What her husband brought into the house was most likely a large rag doll he had picked up at a yard sale or something to surprise Tina on her birthday.
When they all went into the living room to prepare the doll for the big birthday party, she didn’t want to get in their way. She just went upstairs and went to bed to rest for a while. It didn’t need to be a nap. She would pick up Tina from school herself when the time came, even though that had always been her husband’s responsibility.
A couple of houses over, a woman she knew as one of her best friends in the neighborhood was helping her cat giving birth to a litter of kittens. She could hear their soft mewling drift into her bedroom on a light afternoon breeze. She herself had never had a cat. Perhaps that would be a good time to get one, perhaps one of the new kittens. Her friend would be thrilled if she took one of them. It would be good for Tina. She could help raise her and grow up with her and learn some responsibilities.
On the day when all her family and friends and neighbors gathered at her home in advance of the funeral, she was nowhere to be found, even though everybody kept looking everywhere. Nobody ever saw her again after that. Nobody ever found any remains, as if she hadn’t existed at all.
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