Barbara+McGrath+Memoir

//“Barb, why don’t you sing something for him? I’m sure he’d like that.” The girl’s mother looked at her expectantly.// // “Barb can sing?” Her Aunt Colleen gave her a startled look. // // “She’s the only one in the family that can carry a tune.” Barb’s mother said to her sister. “Go on Barb. Sing something.” // Barb sat in the back seat of the car as her Dad and sister started arguing about where the funeral home is. She had stayed silent in the car as she tried to prevent the tears from rolling down her cheeks and the memories from assaulting her mind. She tried to ignore the memory from her birthday and the call from her mother giving her the news. “//...lucky star...”// She tried to ignore everything and concentrate on looking for the road name her dad couldn’t find. Then she spotted it. “It’s the next right, Dad.” Her father made the turn and kept yelling at his other daughter to shut up. He didn’t say anything as he drove the car into the parking lot and parked the car close to the entrance of the funeral home. “Way to be late Barb.” “Shut the hell up, A.J.” Barb glared at her cousin while walking through the entrance. “Whoa, Barb. Is that any way to talk to your cousin?” Her Uncle said with a small smile on his face. She fought the urge to slap him. Nobody remembered the importance of that day for her. Barbara stepped into the room and walked up to her mother. “You three missed the service. Why were you late?” “Dad got lost. We nearly ended up in New York.” She responded as she glanced around the room. Her anger flared as she saw her cousins playing their game boys. They were old enough to know better. “Mommy, where’s Grandpa?” Barb nearly choked out crying as she heard her youngest cousin ask his mother. “Grandpa’s sleeping honey.” Her Aunt started tearing a bit and looked in the direction of her niece. “I’m sorry, Barb.” “Thanks.” She gave a sad smile and headed towards the coffin and kneeled on the cold leather. After saying a small prayer, she stood up and headed towards the seats. “Cousin Barbara!” A small boy darted up to her and gave her a hug.” “Hey Matt, how’re you? Hey Julie.” A young girl waked up to Barbara and gave her a hug. “I’m fine!” The boy gave her a big hug and walked over to the male cousins as Julie went to give Laura a hug. Barbara sat there ignoring the sounds of everybody walking by and talking and thought back to the second to last time she saw her Grandfather alive. //“Go on Barb. Sing something.”// // “The only song I can think of is called Caledonia” // // “Go on then.” // // So the girl sang. She sang softly, and slowly her voice became just a bit louder as she saw her Grandpa’s eyes light up. She knew he would smile if he could, but the stroke had made sure that any form of expression couldn’t be easily seen. // // She finished singing and said her goodbyes for then to her Aunt and Grandpa. “He was happy you sang for him, Barb.” // // “How could you tell?” // // “I just could.” // The voices kept going as her memories of the past week kept playing over and over until it got to the one memory she had tried her hardest to forget. // Barbara woke up on Sunday, June 10 happy and excited for the day to start. She was oblivious to the events that would take place in a hospital room not three minutes later. // // “Happy birthday Barb!” Laura laughed as her sister proceeded to jump on her. // // “Finally!” Barb laughed as she glanced at the clock. It was 10:36 am. She didn’t know then that the time at that moment would be burned into her mind. // // Then the phone rang at 10:40. // // “Hey, babe. Yea, she’s up now. I’ll get her. Barb! Phone!” Barb ran up to her Dad. “It’s your mom.” // // “Hey mom!” // // “Barb, you’re Grandpa’s luck star. He died at 10:36.” Her mom said. The girl could hear her mom chocking on her words as she spoke. Barb slumped to the floor and passed the phone to her sister so she could she the news. Her sister looked at her and passed the phone on to their dad. Barb stood up and walked back into her room and got ready for the day. // // About a half hour later went by when her brother knocked on the door. // // “Barb? Hey, me and Laura are taking you out. Let’s go.” He stood in the room until Barb put her shoes on and headed outside. // // “Where are we going?” // // “Cambridge.” Her siblings responded in unison. // Barb skipped over the memory of walking to the nearby elementary school grinned a bit at the memory of having to make her sister run after all the balls. “Let’s go home Barb.” The next day was the funeral. Thursday. A day she was supposed to be in school to take her Spanish final. Instead she was standing in the middle of a cemetery, watching as her grandpa was lowered into his grave. At that moment she remembered the song she sang to him. And she promised herself that she would never sing it to another person. It was his song.