I Died Afraid My Broken Arm Burdened Them novel · Chapter 8 of 24
Chapter 8: What Dale Said at the Gate
At six in the morning my mother came down the stairs with the urn in one arm and her phone in the other.
My father sat in the kitchen in yesterday's shirt with three phones lined up on the counter.
"Look at this," she said.
She held out the screen.
The word was still there in the search bar, with a smear of frost on the glass.
"Paula, that's a search term. You typed it in your sleep."
"I didn't type it."
"Then it's a glitch."
"It says arm, Lyle." Her voice shook. "It says arm, the night I find out about his arm."
"We don't even know about his arm."
"Dale said three weeks."
"Dale is a man who wants money," my father said. He pushed the phones away. "You haven't slept. Please. Sit down."
I stood behind her and could not say the rest of it.
Then something started up outside, a low roar of voices.
Both of them went still.
My father crossed to the window.
"Oh, for God's sake."
At the end of the drive, behind the iron gates, a crowd had gathered. Cameras on tripods. Microphones held up through the bars. A news van with its mast raised.
In the middle of it all stood Dale, in his work jacket, with a folded paper in his hand.
"Don't go out there," my father said.
My mother was already walking.
She went down the drive in her slippers, with the urn against her chest, and my father followed her, calling her name.
The cameras swung toward her.
"Mrs. Marden! Mrs. Marden, is that your son?"
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