Page 11 of The Next Person You Meet in Heaven
Where am I?
Annie Makes a Mistake
She is four years old. She sits at the dinner table. Her parents are fighting. She plays with her fork.
“I can’t believe you,” her mother says.
“It just happened,” her father says.
“Can I have a Creamsicle?” Annie asks.
“Go play, Annie,” her mother mumbles.
“Go play,” her father echoes.
“But can I have a Creamsicle?”
“Annie!”
Her mother rubs her forehead.
“What are we supposed to do?”
“We don’t have to do nothing.”
“Like the last time? Or the other times?”
“Daddy—?”
“Jesus, Annie!” her father yells. “Shut up!”
Annie’s face drops. Her mother pushes from the table and hurries down the hall.
“Oh, yeah, great, run away,” her father says, following after her. “What do you want from me? Huh?”
“I want you to remember you’re married!” she yells.
Annie, now alone, slides from her chair. She tiptoes to the freezer. She pulls on the handle. With athwock, the door opens.
The air is cold. But there it is: the box of Creamsicles. She wants one. She knows she’s not supposed to. She sees two frozen Hershey’s bars on the lower shelf. Her parents like those. She grabs one to bring to them. Maybe they will stop fighting. Maybe they will let her have a Creamsicle.
She steps back to watch the freezer door close—and is jerked up violently by two large hands.
“You stupid brat!” her father yells, as the Hershey’s bar drops. “I told you not to do that!”
Annie feels a slap across her face and her eyes shut and the world goes black. Another slap. Tears ooze. Another. She cries so loudly her ears hurt.
“Stop it, Jerry!” her mother hollers.
“When I say no, I mean no!”
“Stop it!”
Another slap. Annie is getting dizzy.
“JERRY!—”
He lets go and Annie crumbles. Her parents scream asshe sobs on the floor. She hears footsteps rushing her way. Then her mother is hovering over her, blocking the light.
