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Mary Redman
The Aftermath
Mary Redman
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Late October chilled the car, and I drew figure-eights on the passenger side window through fog of breath. The funeral was over. Empty evening gaped like a yawn ‘til a neighbor asked if I’d like to go to meet some friends. She drove. I was charmed by her idle chatter, by how she never said a word about the bitter business of today: my father lowered into earth. Inside our favorite restaurant, fluorescent light pierced darkness.
The jukebox played Good Vibrations and vied with voices celebrating the night’s football win. A girl we knew shared gossip — my gloom faded like a dream I’d recall once I awoke. Days later, I was startled to see a picture someone took of me that night, smiling while a shadow, like some sharpened blade, sliced my face in two.
Mary Redman is a retired high school English teacher who currently works part time supervising student teachers for University of Indianapolis. She has had poems published in Flying Island, Red River Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, Snapdragon: A Journal of Healing, Kaleidoscope, and elsewhere. One of her poems received a Pushcart nomination in 2019.
