Beneath the Weight of Sadness (41 page)

He only began to laugh then, a slow roiling deep-in-the-chest laugh, but as it got louder it turned into sobbing and then I knew for sure he’d done it and I felt better again. I felt as if once again I’d been right about him. He stood and looked at me and then he wiped his tears with the back of his hand. He walked to me and then past me and then I watched him disappear toward the stairs and then I heard him going up them and then, because the house was so quiet, I heard him shut the door to one of the rooms and I knew he was going to turn down the covers in a bed, maybe our bed, and climb under them and take a long and deep sleep.

That’s what people do when they are entirely exhausted. They turn down the covers and fall into a deep and healing sleep beneath the weight of sadness.

About the Author

Gerald Dodge teaches high school English in Central New Jersey. He lives near the Delaware River.
Beneath the Weight of Sadness
is his first published novel.