She crawled inside the trunk of
herself and saw high up inside
the branches, faces of so many
who had gone before. Their arms
stretched toward the sky, batting
clouds back and forth in the breeze
like a game of celestial volley-
ball, except the clouds moved so
slowly it was more like badminton;
the game went on for half purga-
tory time. Two games was all it
took; the whistle blew, they all
cheered for themselves and each
other and were promptly ushered
into heaven. She called after them
saying goodbye but they didn’t look
back. She was sad to see them go
but very glad she saw them just in
time one last time. As she crawled
out of herself, she saw the clouds
turning dark. She ran inside the
house before it started to rain.
It had been dry. They needed the
rain.