Cutoff limit for a morbid precept — short story
“Dude, question real quick.”
“Talk to me, what’s up?”
“What’s the time limit for saying ‘condolences’ or ‘rest in peace’ to someone that lost a family member?”
“Well, now that certainly is a fascinating concern.” Will had to think this through intently, pushing his eyebrows together and looking off into the distance to indicate his deliberation. “I never thought about it before nor expected to ever do so; but to answer your question, I genuinely have no idea.”
“No worries, I didn’t assume you would either, I more so just wanted to hear your point of view on it. It is rather odd, but my friend from Texas is visiting here in a couple of days and I haven’t seen him since our times at Johnson & Flomwell, and since then his mom passed away. But that was years ago and I never told him at the time it happened that I was sorry to hear of the passing — to give him condolences.”
“I mean, must you even make a note on it at all? I don’t think your friend is expecting nor would care if you didn’t mention it; like you said, it occurred some time ago.”
“No I know”, observed Tyler, “however It just wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t say nothing at all. We were good friends — and still are — so I think it comes with the territory to comment on it — a sort of necessary act among good friends. Like say something happened to one of your family members god forbid, I would give you my condolences. Now Imagine I didn’t though, you would think I probably happened to forget given your lenient nature, but that’s probably even worse since it signifies lack of care. There would then be this invisible rift between us that was very palpable and yet neither one of us would mention it due to how unpleasant the situation would turn into.”
“Perhaps true — I wouldn’t doubt it”, placated back Will. “I’m sure whatever you end up deciding it will be fine.”
Will was a kindred spirit and believed — in the pantheist style — that the universe has a way of working itself out, and that all matters of conflict or worry will be resolved.
Tyler was not immune to letting minor inconveniences build up in his head to the point that it became a major controversy that must be resolved at the earliest convenience. He could instruct others with useful advice on many occasions, but the same success did not hold for his own instances. Arm-chair psychology from others is what he sought.
“Wait a minute I got it”, Tyler relayed as they were walking on the east side of Central Park by 81st street. “Since we’re gonna be catching up with each other’s lives, there will be the inevitable moment when families are mixed into the conversation, and that is when I can provide such condolences. It will happen naturally too when he discusses what his family is up to and how they’re doing; never will contrivance or a scheme be suspected since none will be there! Oh this is perfect. I feel so relieved now.”
“When you put it that way, it does seem to make perfect sense. Y’all will be going through a constellation of topics, both personal and impersonal, with family being one of the principal domains of both spaces. It is then a matter of when, not if.”
“Precisely”, said Tyler; “thereby reaffirming my care and empathy for him, to which our kinship will grow stronger out of it. Then we will move on to another subject and delve into that; it will be as if we saw each other yesterday and nothing has changed — that’s how close friends we are.”
“Well I’m glad you figured that one out, it was kind of dampening your mood and running the spirits.”
“What how?”
“I mean c’mon now; you were silent half the time we’ve been walking since you brought it up, and were even brushing the leaves of branches that we walked by. Who does that? Certainly not you.”
“Not gonna lie, that seemed a little too eccentric of me to act that way, but that stung a bit.”
“The truth hurts. But anyways, let me know how it goes.”
Days later.
“So how’d it go”, asked Will.
“Well, not as I- we intended it would; quite the reversal of expectation.” After physical motions of bewilderment, Tyler added: “he was rather confused and overtaken when I gave him my condolences.”
“Huh is that so? I don’t understand, how come?”
“Well all was going to plan at first; we met up, exchanged niceties, on top of hugs and affectionate pats on the back. He told me how Dallas is treating him, how it differs from New York, and why he has no regrets moving out there. It was nice; a very relaxed and happy atmosphere.”
“But here comes the bad news now I’m guessing.”
“Correct. I was telling him what’s been going on with me, my job, this new girl I’ve been seeing, my german shepherd. Finally, I thought this would be a great time to ask about his family, so I did. He was going on about his dad, siblings, aunties — the whole Murphy family tree at that point. It was from this I decided in my head ‘okay I gotta do it now’, or then it would have been unbefitting to mention it later.”
“Right okay — so what did you say?” The excitement Will had for the climatic point was unmatched.
“I brought up his mom, telling him you surely miss her a lot, but I am sure she is proud and watching over you. I consequently gave him my condolences after revealing that I found out what had happened; that I couldn’t comprehend what it must feel like to lose their mother. He got upset over this at me to the point he was physically uncomfortable and outwardly wanted to leave.”
“What was his explanation?”
“Apparently I was being shortsided; improvident to the fact that it was inappropriate of me to give my condolences.”
After some moments of explicit confusion, Will adds: “I literally am perplexed by this; how can he possibly mistake your kind gesture for a rude remark?”
“Because according to him, I missed the deadline.”
