Page 61 of Total Lunar Eclipse
“So Mrs. Gerty is moving to. . .Arizona, you say?”
“Mm-hm. Zahra. . . you remember about us, right?”
“What kind of question isthat? Of course, I remember you and dad! Hell, I thought you’d died!”
“She keeps mentioning us dying, Ann, maybe we shouldn’t move? Maybe she’s having anxiety,” my dad whispers to my mom, like I’m deaf.
“Jorge, that’s ridiculous. Not only hasshebeen gone the last six years for college, but Zahra is the most independent person in the universe.”
“You’re moving?” I squeak. “Where?”
“Your father and I retired, remember? We finished our last semester together and our old bones can’t handle these winters anymore. We’re moving to Tucson.”
“What month is it?” I wonder out loud.
“It’s almost June,” my mom responds, shooting my dad a pointed ‘she’s more than addled in the brain’ look.
“TUCSON?!” I suddenly shout, my mom’s words finally sinking in.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Zahra! Yes, Tucson. We told you to join us, but noooooooo, you wanted to stay here. We’re so proud that you’ve graduated and you’re going to live here, but don’t do it if you’re not truly happy,” my mom advises. “Now go change. I’m making you waffles for breakfast.”
“Twatwaffles?” I ask like the little smartass that I am.
“I already ate those,” my dad says drolly.
“Ew, gross. Are you saying mom’s the waffle and you were the syrup?”
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to,” my dad warns and his words hit me like a ton of bricks.
Kane once told me the same thing.
“You best get a move on, Zahra. It’s rude to be late on your first day,” my mom reminds.
“Ann, it’s rude to be late, period.”
Turning away, I walk back upstairs and change in a daze.
When I come back down, mom has a stack of waffles with whip cream and butter melting on top. She appraises my teal dress with a critical eye and nods in approval.
“Better,” is all she says.
I sit down and eat in a stupor. Before leaving, I reach out and touch both my mom and dad to make sure I’m not making this all up in my head. Their warm flesh tells me how real they truly are. I give them another hug before stumbling outside. How the fuck I even make it to the library is beyond me.
I stumble through the familiar atrium doors and standing there is freaking Edgar, no horse dick in sight.
“You did it!” He cheers, rushing to hug me in enthusiasm. “I had some serious doubts there in the end. . . after you, ah, took all of Moon’s powers. You kind of went off the deep end and started yelling about ‘infinite cosmic powers’ and then you just disappeared.”
“It was real?” I ask incredulously. “I really did make you into a horse’s dick?”
“Don’t remind me of that,ever,” he orders dryly. “And yes, it was real.”
“Does that mean. . .they’realive?”
I don’t qualifythey; Edgar knows who I’m talking about.
“Of course, Vesta, I meanMrs. Gerty, is going to be their new secretary. Zahra, what happened?”
I tell Edgar about my conversation with the Universe, then waking up here, and my parents being alive. He nods his head sagely when I finish.
