Martin Aitken

To see so many in such a short space of time was unusual.

Lightning lit up the sky out there.

We could light a candle and sit for a bit? How does that sound?”

I felt there was some kind of underlying angst in him, too.

I put my arms around him. He was as stiff as a board.

But then again, I had no idea what films he watched, what games he played

I’m just going to get something from the garage,” I said. “Won’t be a minute.”

“I’m afraid of death,” he said quietly.
I didn’t know what to say. But he was waiting for an answer.
Perhaps he’d never told anyone before.
If there was one thing I wasn’t afraid of myself, it was death. It could come only as a relief, a liberation from life’s torment, its badness and petty malice; from those who constantly craved, who took and never gave.
“Everyone is from time to time,” I said after a pause. “Even grown-ups

, it was to birdsong everywhere

I was well aware, of course, that in all likelihood her mental and emotional faculties were undepleted,