Standing at the lectern, her eyes shining with unspilled tears, Zoe took a moment to think. She looked to her left, at the open casket, then at our mom, and then up at the ceiling as if there was some secret script up there for her to read from.
When she lowered her eyes to those of us gathered before her, I saw that one tear had finally broken free, sliding down one pale cheek.
“When we were kids, our dad wasn’t around much,” she spoke. “He was always working. He often came home late. Sometimes, I’d still be lying awake in bed, and I’d hear him when he got home. Many times, Mom would still be awake and waiting for him. I remember hearing them talking quietly together after Dad came in the door. I would try to make out what they were saying, but I never could. Sometimes I’d want to get out of bed and go out there to…I don’t know, ask Dad how his day was. I wanted to but I never did; I guess it seemed private, the two of them seeing each other after a long day.”
I looked over at Mom; she’d gotten her tears under control and was watching Zoe speak.
“Like I said,” Zoe continued, “our dad wasn’t around much, but there were times when he’d drive us somewhere, maybe to Mulberry Park for a picnic or to the movies. We’d go together, all of us, even if sometimes us kids would rather have stayed behind so we could hang out with our friends. Dad…” She laughed.
“Dad would pass the time while driving by telling us stories. He would just make things up. I remember one time, we were taking a long drive up to Waukegan. I must have been nine or ten years old, and Halloween was right around the corner. I was saying that I wanted to dress up as a princess. Mom was always thrifty, so she was talking about how she was going to make me a princess costume herself. Out of nowhere, Dad says, ‘You know you’re a real-life princess, right?’. I asked him what he meant. He told me that we were direct descendants of the last King of Remuria. I laughed, but he said that he was serious. I’d never heard of this place, Remuria. Dad said it was a country in Europe, a tiny one between Austria and Italy. I guess I should have known he was pulling my leg, but maybe I just really wanted to believe that I was a princess.”