AS SHOCKING AS IT WAS

by Sergio Zavala

“Ring, Ring, Ring,” the phone rang about five times so very loudly that you could even hear it outside. It was late in the afternoon and the sky outside was pitch dark, like a cave. I remember getting up from the comfortable couch and walking fast to the kitchen to be able to get the phone before they hung up.

But as soon as my foot hit the cold wooden floor, my mom yelled out, “ I got it!” That most likely meant that it was for her.

I slowly went back to the living room when suddenly I heard a loud crashing sound. In an instant and without thinking, I ran to the kitchen. My devastated and shattered mom had dropped her mug of coffee and there were pieces of glass scattered all over the floor, like mixed up puzzle pieces. The coffee spilled onto the kitchen floor like a dark river flowing downstream. Crying with deep feeling and emotion, my mom was sitting on the floor. The minute I saw her laying there on the floor, I was worried and shocked. Anxious and frustrated, I began to scream and demand for her to tell me what was going on.

I went up to her very slowly and asked her, “ Mom what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

With wet and emotional tears, she just stared. She got up from the floor, moved very cautiously towards the window, and hung the phone. In a very hoarse and scratchy voice she said,  “ Sergio, your grandpa has cancer.”

That was the greatest and most horrifying news I had ever heard. I was left in shock and I was clueless. I just stood there with my eyes wide open and tried to capture what my mom had just told me. I had no idea how to respond and react, what to say, and how to handle it. It was like I couldn’t speak because nothing came out of my mouth. I knew that from then on everything would be different. I looked at my mom and I told her that everything would be okay. We talked it out and managed to calm down. That day in our family’s history most definitely changed our lives.