The children huddled on the edge of the cemetery, the oldest squeezing the coin in her hands. Her mess of hair spilled around her shoulders, looking down at her baby brother clutching at her pants.
“Are you… sure Jim?” She asked the three-year old, “that’s what she said?”
The slight child nodded with the confidence of youth, “the tooth fairy said it. She said this was better than 10c. She did!”
His sister gazed out at the expanse of graves, weeds building up along the edges. It reminded her a little bit like lines of teeth, little signs dictating who went where. Catholics with their large tombs and decadent saints guarding over them. The simpler, tidy protestants were in neat rows, flowers spotted here and there. She wasn’t sure about Jim’s tooth fairy story – but anything to get out of the house.
Gripping her brother’s hand, she led him down between the line of Catholics and protestant sites. Past the children graves and down a small hillside. She looked for the edge of the cemetery, towards the large line of cypress trees standing to attention.
Part of her hoped it wouldn’t be there – that the small grave covered in yellow Marigolds would be a myth. But the other part, the child sized hole in her heart led her baby brother to the spot.
She stopped.
He ran.
Pumping his arms before him, he fell towards the small grave covered in flowers. His sister walked towards him, bending down to clear some of the flowers. She ran her fingers over the grave, endless names written into the stone. In the middle of the names a phrase engraved on the stone caught in her throat.
Her brother leaned over the flowers, bracing a hand on the grave and dangling his coin over the slot at the top.
“Ready?” Jim grinned.
__________________________________________________________
Laura wiped her eyes, running through the rows of graves. She could still hear her dad’s words ringing in her ears, hear Aunty Audrey fighting over her.
“She’s just a teenager Josh, it’s hard! Not to mention-”
“SHUT-UP. Stop finding excuses for her behavior! She’s being a brat.”
“You are just like her! Have you noticed how much you avoid situations?!”
Laura ran down the pebbled path, past the carefully arranged grave sites. She knew this graveyard better than her own backyard. She skidded to the right, jumping over graves to the one she wanted. The flowers she had pressed into the black cups had wilted. At a touch the petals, rather than falling apart, faded into the air. Confused, Laura went to touch the cold stone for reassurance. Her hand met resistance, then went through it. A strangled cry choked out of her mouth as the grave seemed to shudder and fade away. In its place, a single gold coin rested in the grass.
“What?” She whispered, “Who-where…”
She felt her heart lurch and then speed into overdrive. Her mind scrambled for a hold, hot and cold spikes shot through her body.
Oh no.
She blindly reached out for the coin, the slight weight grounding her. She concentrated on its texture, the feeling of it in her hands. She forced herself to first hold her breath, and then slowly breath in and out. Laura grounded herself enough to hear two voices.
“On the count of three then!” A girl’s voice said.
“I can count all the way to… seven!” A child’s higher voice piped in, “one, two, three, six, nine, seven!”
Laura dropped the coin she held, and the voices faded away. Frowning, she picked it up and the voices came back, the girl’s voice patiently teaching the child the way up to three.
“Just three?” The child asked, “but what about twelve?”
Laura turned to the voices, curling her fingers around the coin. She stood up, casting a glance at the hole where the grave should have been.
“Okay! Okay!” The girl laughed, “you can just drop the coin in when you want to.”
Laura walked towards the line of cypress trees, the setting sun hitting the Marigolds littering the area. As she walked closer, she saw the pair. The small boy with brunette ringlets was on his tiptoes, reaching his hand over an aged grave. His sister – for they surely were siblings – watched with eyes both bemused and anxious.
“One! Two! SEVEN!” He yelled and pushed the coin into the slot. The coin flashed before it sunk into the stone, making Laura glance down at her identical one.
The words on the stone began to light up, beginning at the base and working its way up. Laura watched, realizing the words were names. May. Louise. Rebecca. Grace. Hannah. Jackie. Katherine. Women’s names. Kate. Bianca. Janet. Jessica. Countless names that lit up the stone in golden letters. They faded, a sound of a coin clinking into place within the stone. All but one name, the name beaming out like a flashlight. The older sibling yelped like she’d been bitten, bending down to press her hands into the stone.
The siblings still hadn’t seen Laura watching a mere meter away, watching with wide eyes. Before their eyes the air seemed to still in place. A being made of starlight grew before the grave, the only colour in her form were her blue eyes. She knelt on the space before the grave, the older sibling having pulled her brother towards her.
The being smiled gently at the children, turning her hands upwards towards them. The woman cried silently through her smile, letting the tears fall and return to her glittering form.
“I don’t have long darlings,” she whispered, flowing silver hair tumbling down her back. The striking resemblance to the girl made Laura’s eyes burn with unshed tears. The woman wore a hospital gown, though the shift dazzled in the low light. With hiccupped cries the two ran to her, wrapping their arms around her neck and slight waist. The woman sighed contentedly, turning to look at Laura.
“Go on Laura, she’s waiting for you.” Then together with her children, the mother stood and wondered a little way from the grave. Her daughter was a mess, crying and talking all at once.
Laura breathed through her nose, trying to bring her sanity back down to her. She opened her hand, looking down at the coin winking up at her. Then she walked over to the small grave, crumbling with age. The inscription convinced her, forcing her hand forward to insert the coin.
Again, the grave glowed with some inner fire. Again, the names faded until one remained.
Like in life, in death the woman shot into existence. She climbed to her feet, throwing her arms wide as a smile split across her face. She wore the same clothes that filled Laura’s memories. Tattered skater pants with a white shirt covered in paint splotches.
“Come here munchkin, I’ve missed you!”
“Mamma.”
Laura felt herself move, allowing the glowing figure to wrap her meaty arms around her. She felt her mother smile into her hair, the sunset shooting through her form so she dazzled. Laura breathed in through her tears, pulling away to turn and find a spot to talk to her mum. As Laura led her mother away, she turned to read the inscription on the old tombstone. Acknowledging her thanks with a nod of her head, she clutched her celestial mum tighter.
"Happiness is seeing your mother smile.”
ns 18.68.41.174da2
