Memorial Days

In DC, Brooks arrived at George Washington University Medical Center, the place of Tony’s birth and now his death. She couldn’t see Tony’s body because the coroner had taken it for examination. A receptionist gave her a bag containing Tony’s personal items. Remembering Tony’s stunt during the first Gulf War when he took a Saudi uniform from a dry cleaner to get into Kuwait, Brooks considered stealing scrubs and sneaking into the morgue. However, she was too exhausted and left the hospital for Josh’s house, where Tony had been staying.

On Flinders Island, Brooks receives a phone call from her friend Jim, who asks her to read his manuscript. She intended to disconnect from life at home during her trip, but the call got through somehow. Jim’s humor is a balm, prompting her to remember how Tony made her, and everyone around him, laugh. She misses his pranks and legendary April Fool’s jokes. After her call with Jim, Brooks sets to work on sorting through her grief, beginning with the initial emails she sent on the day of Tony’s death. In an email to her friend Sally, in response to Sally’s kind condolences, Brooks wrote, “We were so lucky” (41), a phrase that she notes she often uses as a coping mechanism to hide her denial.