message, “It’s your mom. Call me.”
Nataly punched in her phone card number. Her mother picked up after half a ring. “I’m at Hogue with Dad. We were at your house. He tried to kill himself.” Nataly said this with as little emotion as possible. And then, since her mother didn’t quite grasp what had happened, she repeated herself. “I’m at Hogue. With Dad. He tried to kill himself.” Silence.
“Sweet Jesus,” her mother said, followed by a sob. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Nataly punched in Sylvia’s number. As she was leaving a message on the answering machine, Sylvia picked up. “What?!” Sylvia demanded. “What?!”
“Dad tried to kill himself.”
Sylvia said, “Why?”
“Their divorce was finalized today?”
“Is he going to be all right? Is he going to be okay?”
“I don’t know. They didn’t say anything to me. Can you…can you call Celeste? I don’t think I’m up to it.”
Nataly waited at the emergency entrance. She sat down, closed her eyes and was flooded with gray. A wall of gray nausea slammed into her so hard, she opened her eyes. A halo of maroon approached her. It was her mother.
At nine o’clock, the emergency doctor attempted to take Mercy aside, but Nataly refused to budge.
“He’s going to spend the night here, recovering. Worst-case scenario, there may be possible long-term liver damage.”
“He’s not going to die,” Mercy said, clutching Nataly.
“No, ma’am,” the doctor replied.
“Thankgodthankgodthankgod,” Mercy murmured to Nataly.
Nataly stood in the hallway corridor while her mother went into her father’s room. Nataly peered in. There was her father, looking at her mother, looking like he really did love her. She waited a moment. Mud. That room, her father, were the color of mud, not gold, and her mother still shimmered silver. Did her mother still love him? It appeared she did, and it was a mass of tangled knots and threads within her, a malevolent tumor growing within. She stepped inside the room, patted her dad’s arm and said, “I’m glad you’re going to be all right.”
Nataly and Mercy waited for Celeste and Sylvia in the hospital cafeteria. The empty chrome counters gleamed, the display cases shone light. There were vending machines for coffee, soda, candy, chips, wrapped sandwiches. Nataly could see that her mother had been especially beautiful for today, her hair and nails recently done. She still wore the makeup she had put on this morning. Nataly picked up her mother’s hand and held it between her own.
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