Page 83 of The Love of My Afterlife
“Mr. Yoon needs more witnesses,” I say eventually. “More people to know him. People who will remember him. Who will check in on him.”
“He has us.”
“It’s not enough.” I bite my lip. “There need to be, like, contingency people.”
I tap my hand against my knee and narrow my eyes as a plan starts to form.
“Contingency people?”
“Yeah…” I nod my head firmly and sit up straighter. “That’s it. I’m going to throw a party for Mr. Yoon. Nothing big. Nothing overwhelming. But just something to, you know, introduce him about a bit. To people.”
“Introduce him about a bit? He’s eighty-eight years old, and he seems to like being alone.”
“Eighty-six. And does he? Do we know that? I mean, I’ve pushed people away my whole life. I made that choice and now I…” My voice wobbles but I swallow it down. “Mr. Yoon, even if he wanted to have witnesses to his life, people to remember the important occasions, it’s got to be near impossible when you’re getting forgetful and you don’t speak and your body’s all creaky. He’s missed out on so much.”
“He’s always seemed pretty content to me.”
“I’m going to do it on Sunday.”
My last day on Earth.
Cooper laughs in disbelief. “You’re going to throw a party for our eighty-six-year-old neighbour the day aftertomorrow. Why the rush?”
I take a deep breath. “Because life is too short to wait around on a good idea.”
37
The next morning, the doctor confirms that Mr. Yoon can come home, which is the very best news. I ask her if a gathering would be out of the question, and she tells me that if he is willing, it would be a nice thing—something to distract and uplift him. She warns me that in addition to taking a new medication to settle his stomach, Mr. Yoon must absolutely avoid any spicy or acidic food.
“No more giant fizzy cola bottles!” I chastise Mr. Yoon as I help him into the cab. “And the smoking really needs to stop.”
He snorts in response, shaking my shoulders a little as if I’m the one who needs to relax.
“I’m serious,” I say sternly. “I won’t always be here to look after you.”
After that Mr. Yoon stops chuckling, and though the ride continues in silence, we lean against each other the whole way home.
I enter the library to see Aled arranging a table in the middle of the room. I head over and look down to see that it’s a table full of Cooper’s books, with a hand-drawn sign above it readingLocal Author. Wow. There are ten books there, including the one I ordered and never had a chance to read.
“Delphie! My short-lived best friend!” Aled smiles when he sees me. He’s wearing a purple jacquard waistcoat over a brown shirt today. He looks like a snooker player. “Did you find your missing body, love?” he asks, in a more excitable tone than that particular set of words should allow. Another library member side eyes me with horror.
“My missingaliveperson. Yes. I found them.”
“Ah, jolly good. So you are ready to read for pleasure then? I’ve actually made a list of recommendations for you—”
“No…no, I mean, that’s lovely of you, Aled, but I came to ask for another favour. It’s quite an ask, though.”
“Ooh,” Aled says. “Go ahead.”
“Well. I have a friend, Mr. Yoon. Super cool guy. He’s just been in hospital. He’s fine, thank God, but he’s old. He’s lived around here for a very long time but he doesn’t know many people in town.”
“No friends? How very sad. Poor him.”
“Some people are lone wolves,” I say, prickling at the overt pity in Aled’s voice.
“Ah, not me. I like there to be as many people in my life as possible. I collect people, like ornaments. I have different people for different things.”
I pull a face because collecting friends like ornaments is oneof the creepier concepts I have encountered recently. “What am I for then?” I ask, curiosity getting the better of me. “How do I add to your collection?”
