Titan by 40
My phone rings early on a weekday in 2018 and I glance at the number – it’s my parents. Ugh. I have to get ready for work and even if I didn’t I still wouldn’t answer it. I let it go to voice mail and finish my makeup. It rings again. For fuck’s sake. “Hello?” “Hi Sabby, it’s mom.” “Hi mom.” My voice falls into a special cadence reserved for her - guarded, irritated, polite. It’s a difficult dance trying to manage these all at once which explains why I always feel drained after I talk to her, no matter how brief our “conversations”. “Sabby…” she says and starts crying. Right away, I know. Dad is 80, blind from glaucoma, high blood pressure, diabetes and I’m not sure what all else. I stay calm and ask her what happened. He collapsed in the middle of the night and is in a coma in the hospital. I talk some more with her, getting the details of what happened and what needs to be done. We hang up and I sit on the side of the bed, staring out the window. I pick up the phone again and call ...