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“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder We need the storm, the ind, and the earthquake”

-Frederick Douglass

Tiernan

It’s strange The tire swing in the yard is the only thing that makes it look like a kid lives here There were never any drawings in the house None on the fridge or walls No children’s books on the shelves No shoes by the front door or floaties in the pool

It’s a couple’s home Not a family’s

I stare out the atching the tire sway back and forth in the breeze as it hangs from the oak, and absently rub the red ribbon inthe comfort of the smooth surface

He always had ti, didn’t he? He had time for her

And she for him

Walkie talkies shoot off beeps and white noise somewhere behind me while footfalls hit the stairs and doors slam above me The police and paramedics are busy upstairs, but they’ll want to talk to me soon, I’m sure

I s, but I don’t blink

I’d thought the tire sas for o I was allowed to play on it, but my mother was the one who really loved it I used to watch the her and theme want to be in the ic would change It would disappear

So, I stayed at myand only ever watched

Like I still do

I bite the corner ofand land inside the tire where own and light hair flowing through the night as she swung on it is still so vivid, because the last time was only yesterday

A throat clears behindmy eyes

“Did they say anything to you?” Mirai asks me with tears in her voice

I don’t turn around, but after a ive a slow shake of my head

“When did you last speak to them?”

I can’t answer that I’m not sure

Behind me, I feel her approach, but she stops several feet back as the clank of the first aurney jostles and creaks down the stairs and is carried from the house

I tipmyself at the distant commotion outside as the paramedics open the front door The calls and questions, the horns honking as ates, where thewheeled out