Aunt

In the afternoon we visited her in her old home. She stood there near the water cooler expecting us .Just what she was expecting. Someone would come. The others expected someone of her kin to come.

There she was, shaking like tree in the wind. There was electricity passing in her as if she was just an old tangle of wires. As if a lightning struck her from the sky and reached down all the way to the earth.

Doctor? It is all a mental thing. How does one get out of these mental things? Nobody believes her. Nobody does.

I want you to say something. Don’t keep quiet.Say anything. A story, may be.Say it for God’s sake. Tell me a story.Your silence is my utter darkness. I cannot breathe in such darkness. Her eyes dilated in horror as her words flowed in a cascade of fiery rebukes and pitiful entreaties.

We did not have any stories to tell her.