Who Knows
by Pavelle
Wesser
“Thanks for treating
me to dinner me on my birthday, Aunt Ethyl,”
Val smiled.
“I’m glad we
could celebrate together, Val. Who knows, I may
not be alive for your next birthday.”
“Don’t say that,
please.”
“It’s true,”
her aunt insisted. “Speaking of which, the
time has come for me to entrust you with a family
heirloom.”
Ethyl scratched the place
where her ear had once been and then reached into
her purse to remove a small, red box, which she
handed to Val.
“Be gentle with
this, Val.”
“What’s inside
the box?”
“I don’t want to
know, Val, and I suggest you take the same
attitude.”
“Why?”
Ethyl once again scratched
the place where her ear had been. “I’m
sorry Val, I can’t tell you.”
“Aunt Ethyl,
there’s something I’ve been meaning to
ask you. What happened to your left ear?”
“I lost it.”
“How?”
“How does one lose
anything, Val?”
“Body parts don’t
just get up and walk away, Aunt Ethyl.”
“In this family they
do.”
Val shook her head as Edith
signaled to the waiter for the check.
******************
That night, Val lay in bed
thinking about how she had always felt like there
was a family secret no one was telling her. Her
mother had been missing a finger and her father a
toe, yet neither parent had ever been inclined to
talk about why.
Val heard a low groan
beside her in the bed and stiffened. She turned
around to see an old, wrinkled man lying naked
beside her. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she
realized that the man was missing his nose. She
figured that asking him about its whereabouts
might start them off on the wrong foot.
“Who are you?”
she asked instead.
The man pointed wordlessly
across the room.
“What is it?”
asked Val.
The man kept pointing.
“Oh, I get it!”
Val got up and walked over to the desk. She, at
least, was decently dressed in a nightgown. She
lifted the small red box for the man to see. “Is
this what you want?”
The man ran over and
grabbed the box from her. Opening it, he smiled.
On a square of cotton rested a nose. He put it on
his face, where it fit perfectly.
“It looks good,”
said Val.
“Thank you,” said
the man and walked out.
“Don’t you want
to get dressed,” she called after him, but
he was already gone.
Just then, Val felt
something trickling down her face. When she
wiped it away, her hand came away with blood. She
touched her face and screamed.
“Help! My nose!”
******************
“You shouldn’t
have,” Aunt Ethyl later said, “I live
everyday regretting that I unknowingly gave away
my ear to a dead relative.”
“Why didn’t you
warn me, Ethyl?”
“This is the family
secret, Val, though some say it’s a curse.”
Val groaned. “Am I
ever going to get my nose back?”
“In your lifetime,”
reasoned Aunt Ethyl, “honestly, who knows?”
|
