"Evening Meditation"

Jack yanked the curtain back. “What is it? What did you hear?”



I put a finger to my lips and cupped a hand to the door. I could hear our mother sighing. It was a desperate, trapped kind of sound. For a moment there was nothing but silence. I began to think that maybe she’d fallen asleep just standing right there in the kitchen. But then I heard her mutter “fine” and head back to her bedroom. Through the thin walls came the distinct opening of her dresser drawer followed by the familiar rattle which typically followed. “She’s taking her pills.”


“Oh, Ameila, this isn’t good. This isn’t good at all.” He was sitting up in bed, squeezing the life out of our father’s spear.


I tiptoed over to his bed and sat down. It was hard not to wince at his panicked face. “Listen…she’s putting on her whale music. I bet you she’s already meditating.” I closed my eyes and swayed. “Ommmm,” I whispered with a giant smile.


Jack didn’t say anything. So I thought my fake chanting was calming him down. But then he threw himself against me, his bony arms wrapping me in a vise of a hug. “I love you, Amelia.”


“Yeah, yeah,” I rubbed the top of his head until he relaxed his hold on me, until I saw a smile emerge on his taut face.


It wasn’t until I could hear the even sounds of Jack’s breath that I whispered “I love you too, midget.” It was the first night I could remember sleeping with the Addams Family curtain pulled back, with nothing between us. Jack thought he was leaning on me, but really, it was the other way around.