Underwater Read Free Page A

health.
    With heavy hearts, we eventually left Dr. Brown’s office. Darkness had fallen across Astraea beach while we were inside. I looked up at the stars twinkling in the sky, mocking me from above. We drove straight home because no one was in the mood for anything else. The ride was quiet. At one point, I almost played a song just to fill the silence, but in the end, I decided against it. I needed the quiet.
    When we made it home, my dad went to sleep and my mom went outside for a smoke. I knew my dad wanted to be alone, so I let him be, and headed to the backyard.
    We lived in a tiny community on an island off the shore of North Carolina called Astraea Island. The town was beautiful with breathtaking landscapes, gorgeous beaches with snow-white silky sand and crystal clear sea water in shades of turquoise.
    Sometimes tourists would come to the island in the summer, but mostly it was just us town folks. That was fine with me. I loved the solitude this island provided. Most of the people that lived here were warm and kind and everyone knew everyone... or thought they did.
    We came back here not long ago, just before my father was diagnosed. After what happened to River, my parents were not able to stay in the old house. They had moved us to another town until the decision was made to come back to our roots.
    When I stepped outside, I saw my mother sitting on the white wooden swing that was attached to an old oak tree. Its red and orange leaves formed a halo over my mother’s head. It would have been a beautiful picture had it not been shaded in sadness.
    Her head hung low while she rocked back and forth, nursing a cigarette.
    I moved forward and sat down alongside her on the twin swing, contemplating the best way to start the conversation. Looking at her face, I could see the changes in her already.
    Lillian Maier used to be the happiest woman I knew. She had this force that drew everyone to her. A pretty woman she was too, with darker skin than the rest of us, and long straight black hair, high cheekbones, and full pink lips. Compared to me, she was tall and I’d always been a bit jealous of her height. Though now, I didn’t envy her at all.
    “Mom,” I said cautiously. “Talk to me. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
    She took a long drag from her cigarette and blew the smoke up towards the sky. “What are we going to do?” she asked, her voice trembling.
    I took a deep breath and decided for both of us. “You continue working as usual. It’s your job to hold the family together. Leave me to take care of Dad.”
    “What about you?”
    “I’ll be fine,” I answered without confidence. “I’ll be fine.”
     

     
    The first round of treatment passed in a blur. A little tiring, but not as bad as I thought it would be. It lasted for three days, and my dad needed to be hospitalized for it. The staff was friendly and attended to our every need. I stayed with him through it all. It was the first time he’d been through something like that and I had to be there, by his side. My mother had to work, and Adam still didn’t know. I couldn’t tell him about our dad’s cancer. Not yet. I wanted him to be in the dark for as long as possible. He was so free now, happy and laughing, doing his usual thing. I didn’t want to take that away from him.
    So for now, we told him Dad was going through a small surgery, nothing serious.
    When the nurse had assured him his hair would not fall out, he was relieved. And so was I. So you can imagine how we felt a few weeks later when his hair started to fall out. He became agitated and his anger only intensified. All day long he walked around in a foul mood, grieving over his hair.
    At some point, Mom had managed to convince Dad it would be best if he cut his hair all at once, instead of watching it fall out a little every day.
    Dad sat on the couch, clutching his hands together, breathing hard and shallow. He was hanging by a thread. A bomb that was about to explode. But he