A Very Sad Day

Last night, we both had trouble sleeping. I was awake for a long time. This morning, the Sparrowhawk went off to the gym, and I determined at last to clean the bathroom. I had just started on the project when my phone rang. It was the niece who is planning a wedding in September. I assumed she wanted to tell me something about that. But when I asked her how she was, she began to cry and said she had some sad news. Her father and my brother, Mr. Science, died last night, very suddenly and unexpectedly. He had been holding his ground with the ALS-like illness, and had just returned from a week at the Iowa Writers Workshop, where he had a wonderful time. After his return home, he started to feel unwell. He was given antibiotics for pneumonia, but last night he crashed. Ms. Science became alarmed and called the ambulance. On the way to the hospital, his heart stopped, and they couldn't get it to beat again. My niece asked if I would call my sisters and my children. I assumed the painful mantle of the messenger of bad news and called everyone. Then I very quickly finished cleaning the bathroom so I could take a shower. It is always best to be clean and dressed in a crisis.

We are all devastated. Although my niece has not been able to give a definite plan for the arrangements, because all they are going through, she has said tentatively that the wake will be Sunday and the burial Monday, so my sisters and I are planning to go there tomorrow, with or without a guarantee. None of us can get our heads around the knowledge that we will not see him again. I was listening to Jimmy Cliff sing "By the Waters of Babylon." Mr. Science introduced me to reggae, and he used to listen to that album all the time when he lived with us for awhile.