Day Seven I Signed It novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Both Names

On Sunday my mother set the table for six and did not say who the sixth chair was for.

It was for the blue mug.

She put it at the head of the table, filled it with coffee, and left it there.

Nobody asked.

We ate the roast.

When the plates were cleared, my mother sat down and folded her hands.

"All right," she said. "Letters."

Gavin took an envelope from inside his jacket.

It was creased soft from two years of being carried.

The flap had been opened so many times that it no longer stuck.

I took mine from my coat pocket, which was just as soft.

Ivy, beside me, put her hand on my knee under the table and left it there.

"Colin first," my mother said.

I read it aloud.

I read the whole thing, standing, in the voice I use for city council.

When I got to Don't be angry at each other, I had to stop, and Ivy's hand tightened.

Gavin's mother had her eyes on the tablecloth.

My mother's face did not move.

"Now yours," Joan said to Gavin.

He unfolded the sheet and smoothed it on the table.

"It's the same," he said. "Word for word, until the end."

"Read to the end."

He cleared his throat.

He read it through, quietly and well, and at the bottom he slowed down.

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