just follow the cat

Part 9 - How to Say Goodbye to a Ghost

Monday, November 22

Eight days had passed.

It the spring, we do spring cleaning. When we're done, the clear windows and greaseless walls make our world feel fresher. The trash cans overflow with things we thought we might use again, but never did. When we toss away all those unnecessary items, we feel lighter, but we also know that the feeling won't last.

In the summer, we might decide that colors that never matched before suddenly seem perfect for a pair of pants, a dress, a shirt or a blouse. It makes sense, you know. When you walk through a world where the flowers compete for which is the most garish, nothing we wear ever really clashes. But when the tips of the plants turn brown, we know we will have time to wonder. We wonder if the small pieces of our lives will add up to anything – or to anyone. We wonder if the any two memories are more than the memories themselves.

Aldrin Springlet got up that Tuesday morning. As was his custom, he looked in the mirror and hated what he saw. Then with his eyes closed, he flipped a coin and said, "Is it time?"

Eight days had passed. On three of those days, the coin had landed on heads. On the other five, it was tails. On this Tuesday, the coin landed tails side up. Aldrin looked in his notebook and counted all the hash marks. For the first time since he began recording the coin flips, there were now exactly as many heads as there were tails. 248 of each. Also, the coin looked shinier than usual. It was the same coin that he flipped every day, but it definitely looked shinier. The man on the front of the coin even looked happier and the building on the back looked cleaner. Everything was in tip top shape. Tip top.

Aldrin looked around at all the ghosts and nodded to each of them. Then he turned to leave Room 902. Just as his hand touched the doorknob, he saw the spring-green 3 by 5 card lying beside the in-between door. He wondered how long it had been there.

x = y = x