The Family's Stone

"Holly, why are we standing in the cemetery? It's the day after Thanksgiving and we should be in line somewhere shopping for stuff we don't need." Clair said.

"First off, we're in a pandemic, Clair. Black Friday is already online and has been for a week. We're all that Mama and Pop had. We should at least try to be here."

"They won't notice if we are or aren't, Hol. They're dead. Hate to break it to ya."

Holly and Clair Brockfort stood at the tombstones of their parents. The brisk fall day bit into their skin like demons' teeth.

"Holly Mae Brockfort, this is ridiculous! I'm tired of this every year. Mom and Dad wouldn't want us constantly sobbing over dirt. It's not enough water to make anything grow."

Holly gave her sister an evil side eyed glare.

"I don't understand why you're not more..."

"What? I'm not more what? Mushy, emotional, shallow? It's because I realized they're dead. No amount of tears I cry, regardless of what a movie says, will bring them back!"

Clair strode away, hiding her own tears. Weakness, her father said, was unacceptable in his children. His military training seeped into Clair's thinking. Her rebellious side shown more with every passing month. Where Holly was the softer of the twins, Clair was attached to her father's side. One day, she saw him kiss another woman.

She'd been thirteen.

"Mom shouldn't have been with him. She'd be alive and that bastard would've released us all from our captivity. Now? We're without parents. I'm sorry I don't share the amount of pity you do for them. I'm not that way. I never will be. So, go ahead and cry for them all you want. I'll be in the car checking Amazon."

Clair walked away swiping at her tears. As she wiped her hands on her pants, her phone rang.

"Clair Brockfort."

"Hey Babe,"

Jordan McAvoy, Clair's boyfriend of two years, called her once he ended his shift at the construction site. As a building surveyor, he often wore a suit.

"I have a favor to ask of you, J,"

"You know it's not a favor. I love making you happy.. especially today. I don't know or understand why this has to be a tradition every year. They're dead."

"My sister."

"Is a flaming emotional wreck. She needs help."

"I do too. I admit it. I nearly broke at the site."

"When you get home tonight, no objections. I'm going to care for you."

"What about you?"

"I took some measures for a mall space and helped three couples redesign their kitchens. It's not as hard on me as today is on you."

"This. This is why I love you. I didn't even work today and I feel like I've been in a prize fight with Tyson Fury."

"Come home and I'll take care of you."

Clair laughed.

"I'm sure you will."

"Before I try to contain myself, Clair, what did you want?"

"Could you send me a picture of you right now?"

Jordan laughed.

"Um, ok.."

the text message sound pinged with an incoming message. Clair fumbled her phone at the site of Jordan in a pair of black boxer briefs, wearing his glasses.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Clair asks.

"You wanted it."

"I'm gonna die either in a graveyard of embarrassment or in a high speed chase to get home."

"You're mad, Love."

"Nah, just in need of some distractions."

"Glad you're finding me a distraction." Jordan said.

"Don't I always?"

"Whenever you need me, I'm there."

Clair chuckled into the phone.

"Thanks, I mean that. I appreciate it."

Holly approached the car.

"I need to go." Clair said.

"Come home safe, Angel. I miss you."

"I'll be there soon."

Clair ended the call. Holly entered the car.

"We need to get to the house." Holly said.

"Why?" Clair asked.

"There's something there for you."

"Okay?"

The girls went to the house and entered. Neither stepped foot in it since their parents died. Inside, the mantel was adorned with pictures. Three stood out to Clair.

"Have you ever seen these, Hol?" Clair asked.

"What are they?"

"Well, one is Dad in his Marine Formal uniform and Mom in some sort of dress."

They both read: May 1993

The next picture was their mother, heavily pregnant.

"This must have been when mom was having us." Holly said.

"She was gorgeous." Clair said.

The last picture was their father holding their mother.

"I was a horrible kid." Clair said.

"I wasn't much better." Holly said.

"Remember when we tried to sneak out of the house and I ended up in the hospital?"

"Oh yeah, I had to run to the porch and get Dad."

"They were happy til the end, Clair. I want that."

"It's funny. I have that with Jordan. You'll find it, Hol. He's out there somewhere wondering where you are."

"We were lucky, weren't we?"

"Dad came home to his family and he never left after he came home."

"Mom.. Loved him like he should've been."

Holly handed Clair a box.

"Mom wanted you to have this. She wanted to make sure you knew you were loved."

Clair opened the box to see a plaster cobblestone with the inscription "I love you, Mommy."

"She kept this?" Clair asked.

"She kept everything you made."

Clair handed Holly a similar box with a note written in male chicken scratching. Holly opened it and found a purple blob with ridges.

"Oh God! I remember this! Dad kept it?"

"He always told me, whenever we were out in the yard, 'Ya know your sister tried really hard. I didn't have the heart to tell I quit smoking when I married your mom."

Holly laughed then sniffed.

"He didn't smoke? Why was that silver ashtray out there?"

"Uncle Glenn. He smoked. Daddy didn't. Uncle Glenn and those hideous cigars. Dad would come in from the garage and smelled so awful! Mama threw him in the shower and told him to wash up or else he was sleeping in the tent."

The sisters looked at each other, laughing.

"I love you, Berry." Clair said.

"I love you too, Peach."

They embraced. After they depart the home, Clair's phone rang.

"Hey, I'm getting bored at home. You coming back yet?"

Clair laughed.

"Yeah, I'm gonna make sure Holly gets home."

"Good. She needs her sister."

Clair looked at Holly.

"Not as much as I need her."