[HOME] > [2022.11.15]
My mother usually called to check on my well-being in the evening of everyday. However, she had not called me yesterday.
I knew the reason why.
It had been two years since the pandemic, and things had calmed down to a certain extent; still, that did not mean Covid-19 was gone. The virus was especially deadly for older people, despite there being effective medicine.
Of course, my mother was still strong and healthy. She immediately recovered after visiting the doctor and taking her medicine. In fact, she might be more healthy than me, someone who rarely went outside nor exercise.
My mother continued being healthy.
But the same could not be said for my grandfather.
Even before the global virus, almost half of his body was paralysed, and he had been bedridden for years. He was under my aunt's care most of the time and get a visit from my mother quite often. He was loved by his children, that I knew for sure.
Because my grandfather lived out in the countryside, a bit away from the city, I did not see him that frequently. Before moving away to live in a dormitory near my university, I lived together with my mother and her boyfriend(not married) in our house. Oh, but don't worry, I got along well with him.
It took an hour of a car ride from our house to visit my grandfather, and I sometimes accompany my mother visiting him. But after moving to my dormitory in a different part of the country hundreds of kilometers away, I had not seen him for a while.
Then a few days ago, my mother told me.
Grandfather was diagnosed with Covid-19.
My mother had been busy helping my aunt care for him.
That was why she did not make the usual phone call yesterday, on November 14th.
His conditions had gotten worse.
The source of the virus was definitely my older sibling who living together in their countryside house. He was the son of the aunt who had been taking of my grandfather.
Let's call him Harry.
Harry had problems with narcotics and liked going out at night, probably to drink or visit his girlfriend or something. He alledgedly stopped taking any drugs, but his brain had already rotted, so it was too late anyway.
The point being, the ever-so-out-going Harry brought that virus into the house.
My mother, too, probably got the virus from him while she was making a visit to grandfather. But as I said, my mother did fine.
Grandfather, on the other hand, showed no sign of recovery. He was brought to the hospital and got some medicine from the doctor.
Had it even been three days?
My mother was so busy taking care of him at the hospital. She took days off from work and probably went under a lot of stress.
I wanted to help her, but couldn't do anything except spouting some useless encouraging words. I currently lived hundreds of kilometers away, after all.
Today, I woke up in my dormitory rome as usual. I did not have any university class today, so I just turned on my computer to check out some YouTube videos and continue with my writing.
Everything went the way it usually did.
Until my mother called me around noon.
"Youhei," she said as she cried, "grandfather passed away."
It was not often that she would let out that kind of hollowing voice.
She had lost someone very, very dear to her.
And you know what?
I couldn't even attend the funeral because I currently lived so far away.
I couldn't even be at my mother's side in one of the most precarious moments of her life.
I didn't even know what to say to her on the phone.
I couldn't even say simple soothing words to her.
I just listened to her in silence.
I'm sorry.