Her sliced palm pressed the door open to Serafine Papillon’s house just as Inez’s calloused hand had many years ago.
-
Sarah, with blood still dripping from her hand, watched her husband’s life slip from his eyes. She stood up, gracefully wiped the snot from her streaming face and walked quickly to the bedroom. Under her bed was a box marked MELINDA. She shuffled through it until she found what she needed.
-
Sarah’s small hands tried to touch everything as she ran through the store. Her mother called after her, but she didn’t listen. Her eyes saw everything! The light pouring down from the ceiling into the people around her… it filled them up—the ones who were empty anyway. Her eyes bounced off of everything until she saw a beautiful mini plush purple butterfly.
“Mama!” She shouted, reaching with her tiny fingers toward the butterfly, “it’s just like the butterfly that saved Aunt Melinda!”
Inez caught up with her, “Yes it is.”
“Can we get it for her? Maybe it’ll make her happy!”