All Chapters of After I Died, My Family Lost Their Minds: Chapter 11

From that day on, Mom wasn't entirely there.She carried my ashes with her wherever she went.She slept with the urn in her arms.At meals she set a bowl and a fork across the table from herself.One night she lifted a thick piece of braised pork and laid it carefully in the bowl in front of my ashes."Claire, Mom made this herself. Try it. I don't know whether you'll like it."My soul hung in the air above the table. I looked at the glistening piece of meat and murmured, "My stomach's always been bad. I can't eat anything that rich."Mom's body went still for a second.Then, as though she'd heard something, she picked the pork back out with her fork and dropped it in the trash.And then, weeping, she began nudging the plainest vegetable dishes on the table toward my ashes, a little at a time."All right. All right. No rich food. Your mother will change it..."Dad stood off to the side and watched his wife move around the house like a walking corpse, and covered his face in