Page 102 of The Fighter
“Bye then.”
“Bye.”
Raven ended the call and we went back to packing but a minute later, Michael called her again.
“I know this is going to sound silly, and it’s probably nothing of significance but I kept something that belonged to Dina and I feel a little bad about it.”
“What did you keep?”
“A pair of her mittens. We used to have a warming rack outside our apartments for shoes and gloves. After she died, I took her mittens.”
“Why?”
“Because I’d never met a woman and Dina was always so kind to me. I kept them to always remember her… And I kept a feather too.”
“Did you say a feather?”
“Yes. It’s just a small blue feather that I found on the staircase that same night after Dina had died.”
“How do you know it was Dina’s?”
“You’d know if you saw it too. It’s something only rich people would wear on their clothes. Dina had fancy jackets and hats. I knew right away that it was hers. Maybe I shouldn’t have kept any of it. It’s just that at the time it seemed like such small things, but now I wonder if maybe her family want the mittens and the feather back.”
“Send me a picture so I can ask them.”
“Of course. I’ll send it right away.”
After Michael sent her the picture, Raven took one glance at the mittens and the blue feather. “I’ll ask Erika if she wants them back as memories of Dina.”
While Raven called up Erika, I closed the boxes we had already packed, listening to Erika’s and Raven’s short conversation.
“Michael wants to know if you want the mittens and the feather back.”
“No. How many times must I ask you to leave my Dina in peace? Nothing good will come out of stirring up the past.”
Erika’s response made me look over at her hologram. Her face was stiff and her jaws set in stone.
“I’m sorry.” Raven didn’t finish her sentence before Erika had disconnected.
“Don’t take it personally, babe. They are all grieving and that’s why they’re lashing out.”
Raven gave a sad nod. “I know that.” She enlarged the picture of the blue feather with the red dot in the middle. “If Dina had been my daughter, I would have wanted everything with a connection to her, even a small feather like that one.”
“Grief is different for everybody. Erika is choosing not to remember.”
“Yeah, it’s beginning to make sense to me why Marcus removed all traces of Dina after her death. Erika really doesn’t like to think about her daughter.” Raven closed down the picture. “I’ll ask Mila instead. She kept some of Dina’s things from the storage room. Maybe she wants these too.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Leo, stop. Put that box down.”
“I’m fine.”
“Just because you’re not limping anymore doesn’t mean you should be carrying heavy boxes.”
“Not you too, Raven. The guys were giving me crap at work but it’s been a month and I’m fine.” I had a box in my arms and was by the door when a sudden thought hit me hard. At first, I disregarded it but when I returned for the next box, I asked, “Raven, that article you were looking at when I confiscated your research, can I see it?” I knew she had it since I’d returned all the confiscated research to her.
Raven found it and showed it to me. “What about it?”
