THE MEMORIAL
EVELYN ROMANO
Ann brushed out her hair. Down below, music spilled from the foyer. Ann was wearing a black silk gown. The gown flowed over her corset like water, hitting her ankles. Black, two inch heels were fastened around the top of her foot. She was sitting at the vanity set in her and her husband’s washroom. The vanity itself was from when Ann was a child, painted with red peonies around the white porcelain. Ann twisted her chestnut hair, streaked with grey, into a knot at the top of her head as she examined her reflection in the mirror’s cool depths. Ann’s heels clicked on the wood steps that she probably should have had replaced some time ago as she moved down the stairs. The music from below enveloped her. She had had her sister plan the memorial for her husband, so Ann could not quite recognize the music. Ann’s sister was from down south and Ann knew that she had strange tastes in music. As Ann entered the foyer, she heard snippets of conversation. “I don’t believe that…” “And then they fell, straight into the mud!” “Wait, the husband or the wife?” Ann glanced around, looking for her sister, her mother, anybody. She recognized nobody here. Ann remembered telling her sister to invite as many people as she wanted, but she did not expect all of Georgia to come filing into her house. Some of them were wearing strange clothes she was not accustomed to. Jeans, she thought they were called. Ann picked up her chin, heading through the living room to see if she could find her sister. She had to force her way through the throngs of people. Strange, she thought, shouldn’t people be giving me their condolences instead of having me push through them like I am swimming through a maelstrom. Ann continued to walk through the house, trying to see if she could find anyone she knew. Ann was surprised by the amount of people that showed up, her husband, William, must have known more people than she thought. Through the window, Ann saw a flash of light. Red, then white, then red again. A wailing sound accompanied the strange light. Ann rushed outside, back through the living room, the foyer, to see what was going on. A strange sight met her eyes. The source of the red and white light was an unusual metal box with a red cross along the side. This box was sitting atop four black wheels. It was moving 25
