I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

doesn’t want to talk about while planning to spread her mother’s
ashes.
Sony’s estranged family tries to contact her, but she never calls them
back.
Money’s gravity is stronger than tragedy’s. Sony knows that.
Eric sets up a ventilator in his apartment’s second bedroom. He’s
known Sony’s mother for a long time and therefore, Sony. She stays
with him for some time. When she spreads her mother’s ashes in the
sea, he goes with her.
Sony finds joy again. She doesn’t seek it out. It lays waiting in
unfinished puzzles and adventures she’s yet to have.
Children filled the space her mother left behind. Eric takes her to the
oncology wing, where her dramatic readings of bedtime stories and
notorious games of hide and seek are great successes.
She finds peace in letting Neo steal her hoodies and stealing
forbidden fruits. She and I carry the story box to the gardens and
play the sky’s games when Neo’s parents visit him.
Sony’s lung, sadly, doesn’t live well on its own. The hospital keeps a
steady hold on her, only relinquishing when that single organ missing
its other half finds the strength.
Years later, when our lives fall into steady rhythms, no metronomes
to be found, Sony’s fire learns to burn on its own. I give her a piece
of paper, a mock puzzle piece, telling her to chase the half that’s
been stolen.
For Sony,
I’ll steal you a pair of wings.
quid pro quo