book title

Nine-year-old Ariel burst into the house, practically knocking the screen door off its hinges. “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!” she bellowed.

Lauren, quite used to Hurricane Ariel, looked at her daughter and laughed. “What is it this time, honey?”

Ariel threw down her backpack and jumped into her mother’s arms, panting. “Today in school when my friend Harrison asked our teacher what a grandma is, her face got red as a tomato and she yelled, ‘Go home and ask your mother, and don’t ever ask that question again!’ I never saw my teacher get angry before, it was really scary.” Ariel sniffed and took a deep breath, looking into her mother’s eyes. “So, Mommy, what’s a grandma?”

Lauren could feel the hot acid bubbling up in her throat as she began to hyperventilate. Although she’d known this day was coming, she was not ready. How could she ever be prepared to steal away the innocence of her only daughter, knowing it would change her life forever? Just like it had hers when she was nine.

For the next few minutes, Lauren paced the floor, taking deep breaths and wrestling with this gut-wrenching question as Ariel watched her wordlessly. When she finally made a decision, Lauren wrapped her daughter in a bear hug. “Ariel, you’re a big girl now, and I think you’re ready for the truth.”

Ariel furrowed her brows as her mother took her hand and brought her into the kitchen. Lauren made them each a cup of hot chocolate and placed three cookies on a plate in front of Ariel. Ariel’s eyes opened wide with delight, and she became giddy. She hardly ever got junk food.

As she took her first small nibbles, savoring each bite, she wondered once again why her parents never ate junk food and why grown-ups always wanted to talk about boring things like the best way to grow organic vegetables, or which vitamins to take.

Sitting at the kitchen table, watching her daughter enjoying the cookies, Lauren became hypnotized by the swirling steam rising from Ariel’s cup. It transported her back to the day she’d had this same talk with her own mother. The day her panic disorder had been born.

Ariel looked at her dazed mother and cried, “Mommy, what is it, already?”

Jolted back to reality, Lauren watched as her daughter dunked her cookie into her hot chocolate, laughing and smacking her lips in delight, oblivious to the serious turn this conversation was about to take.

Readying herself for the task, Lauren sat up straight and plastered a fake smile on her face. “Ariel, what I’m about to tell you is an important part of our history, but you must promise not to tell your friends.”

Ariel nodded her head in earnest, and Lauren began.

“In the year 2041, a great virus swept through the earth. It was called Novo-41, and it was the most contagious virus man had ever known. It infected people all over the world, but the truly awful thing about it is that it killed everybody over the age of eighty instantly. We were at the complete mercy of this virus.”

Ariel’s eyes opened wide. “People used to live to be in their eighties? That’s crazy.” Gesticulating wildly, she knocked over her cup of hot chocolate, splashing it all over her new shirt, as well as the table and the floor.

Tears came to Ariel’s eyes, but Lauren said, “Don’t worry, honey, that’s what mops and washboards are for.”

Lauren grabbed a mop and a bucket of water as she passed some towels to Ariel. As they cleaned up the mess, Lauren said, “Honey, believe it or not, some people even lived to be over a hundred.”

Ariel’s face was a mask of shock as Lauren continued.

“The virus mutated and mutated again, eventually killing off all people over seventy, then sixty, then fifty, and within a year of the first reported case, there wasn’t a single person in the world who wasn’t infected. This virus embedded itself into the very fabric of our DNA. What that means is that now, even babies are born with the virus. Do you know what DNA is?”

“Of course, Mommy, I am in third grade!” Ariel began to absentmindedly twirl her ponytail. “I know I have blond hair because you have blond hair.”

“That’s right, and Grandma had blond hair too. So let’s answer your question. A grandma is your mommy’s mother and your daddy’s mother, and a grandpa is your mommy’s father and your daddy’s father. Do you understand?”

Ariel began jumping up and down. “Of course! You’re saying I have two grandmas and two grandpas? Where are they? When can I see them?”

Lauren gulped back tears. “I’m so sorry, honey, but all four of your grandparents have died. People don’t live long enough to become grandparents anymore. It’s just around the time that a person’s hair begins to turn gray that the inborn virus begins to exert its effects.”

Ariel shook her head in disbelief. “You mean a person’s hair can turn a different color?”

“Yes, it can, or at least it did. I know this is going to sound scary, but first I want you to understand, it doesn’t hurt. To put it simply, the virus consumes the thinking part of a person’s brain. At first, people begin seeing things out of the corner of their eye, but then, little by little, they develop hallucinations. Eventually, people can no longer tell the difference between what’s real and what isn’t.”

Lauren could see that Ariel needed a break from this serious conversation and sent her upstairs to change out of her wet shirt. As Ariel walked to her room, her brain was a swirl of confused thoughts and questions. She mechanically changed her clothes and returned to the kitchen.

“Mommy, what happens to people when they start seeing things?” Ariel whispered.

Lauren began forcefully scrubbing Ariel’s shirt against the washboard, taking out all her anger and frustration on the block of wood as she prepared to answer Ariel’s question. After a moment of hesitation, she continued.

“I’m proud to say that we take very good care of our elders. As soon as people have their first vision, they move into a special home called Hospice Heaven.” Lauren crossed her fingers behind her back as she added, “It’s such a happy place because people get to live together and make so many friends.”

Tears burned Lauren’s eyes as she recalled the day she’d brought her own mother to Hospice Heaven. She’d had to drag her mother into the building kicking and screaming, and it took everything she had not to put her mother back into the carriage and have the horses take them home. Deep in thought, Lauren absently stared at the floor and picked at her cuticles, forgetting that her daughter was waiting for answers.

She returned to the present when she heard her daughter whimpering, “Mommy, are you okay?” Ariel had never seen her mother so worried before, and it terrified her.

Lauren smiled at her daughter and said, “I’m okay, honey, because it’s a happy story. When people first arrive at Heaven, they have jobs and fun things to do, and we can visit them all we want. But as they get sicker, the visits stop, and they get to relax like they’re on vacation. The thing to remember is that every single person at Heaven is treated with kindness and compassion. We’re all in this together.”

Lauren took her daughter’s hand and brought her outside. The sun warmed their faces as Lauren hung Ariel’s shirt on the clothesline and took a breath of fresh air. As Ariel walked off to the barn to visit the horses, Lauren used the time to organize her thoughts. One day she would tell Ariel that in the past not everyone lived on a farm, but today was not the day for that.

When Ariel returned, they went to peek at the vegetable garden. The seeds had been planted and the tiny buds, green and full of promise, were just peeping above the surface. On a normal day, it would have brought happiness to Lauren’s heart, but today it brought only sadness. The budding plants only served to remind her of the budding terror in her mother’s eyes the day she’d had her first vision. Lauren was only eighteen, and she wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her mother. But as sad as Lauren felt now, she was also happy she could finally share memories of her beloved mother with Ariel.

After a few minutes, Lauren signaled for Ariel to sit on the porch while she sprinted into the house and retrieved some old photo albums.

For the next two hours, mother and daughter laughed and cried as they looked at pictures of all of Ariel’s grandparents, each one having written a special letter for the grandchild they would never know. Lauren would one day do that too, for Ariel’s children.

When they finished reading all the letters, Lauren gave Ariel a book her grandmother had written for her. It was called Grandma’s Watching Over You with Love.

Although Ariel was old enough to read it herself, Lauren scooped her up onto her lap and read it to her. Together, they mourned a life that they would never have.

Later that night, as Lauren tucked her daughter into bed, Ariel checked her mother’s hair for gray—something she would do every night from then on—and asked the question Lauren had been dreading. “Mommy, will you and Daddy go to Heaven too?”

Lauren sat down on Ariel’s bed and began stroking her hair. “Yes, Ariel, but I promise Daddy and I will make sure you’re ready. And don’t forget the most important part. You won’t be alone because of Match Day. You know that’s how Daddy and I met. The year you turn eighteen, the town mayor will match you up with a very nice young man, and you’ll get married. You’ll share Wedding Day with all of your friends your age. Isn’t that wonderful? It’ll be one of the happiest days of your life.”

Lauren prayed her lie was convincing because it was important for Ariel to have something special to look forward to. Then she closed her eyes and vividly recalled how scared she’d been on her own Match Day.

As she lay in bed staring at the ceiling, Ariel felt a world of sadness fill her up, and she began to cry. “Mommy, what am I going to do without you? Why did this terrible virus have to happen?”

Lauren wiped her daughter’s eyes. “Don’t you see, Ariel? This virus is a gift. It taught us to slow down, respect the Earth, and return to a simple way of living. We took a wonderful step backward and are healing the earth. Now, when we look at the night sky, we can see thousands of stars twinkling up above. It’s like they’re saying thank you for your help. Our planet has been restored.”

She kissed Ariel goodnight.

“But the best part is, because we know our time on earth is limited, we understand how precious life is. We never forget to tell the people we love how much we love them, and we don’t get mad at each other for silly things like spilling hot chocolate. So, while some things about the virus are sad, the world is a much happier place because of it.”