Free When Sunday Comes Again by Terry E. Hill Page B

to know the depth of his pain and loss. He needed someone who could remind him of the person he was before he met Hezekiah, because he had forgotten. He couldn’t recall what his face looked like when he smiled. He didn’t remember what his laugh sounded like or what his life was before the cloud of grief had descended and enveloped his entire world.
    Kay interrupted the silence. “Are you still there, Danny?”
    Danny began to cry. Kay was the first person to hear Danny’s sorrow since Hezekiah’s death. He had isolated himself and didn’t allow anyone close enough to hear him cry. At work he behaved as if everyone else’s problems were much greater than his own. No one knew of his loss. No one knew of his pain.
    â€œIt’s okay, Danny. Let it out. I’m here for you, baby. I’m here,” Kay said through her own tears.
    Their combined sobs served as words for the next five minutes. Danny curled into a tight ball on his couch and cried with the phone clutched to his ear. His chest heaved as he gasped for air between deep wails. He needed someone to hear him cry, to acknowledge his pain, and to recognize his sorrow. Until that moment his loss didn’t seem real. It was as if he were suspended in a dream.
    â€œIf a man cries alone, does he make a sound?” he had written in his journal one evening, while lamenting alone.
    He does not, the scribe continued.
    In the absence of sound, pain runs deeper.
    When there is no shoulder to cry on,
    the chill of sorrow is colder.
    The weight of grief more unbearable.
    If no one is there to share your loss.
    The pain must live with you and you alone.
    As their weeping gradually faded into sputtering breaths, Kay spoke. “Danny, I don’t want you to be there alone. I’m coming home on the earliest flight I can get tomorrow.”
    â€œThat’s not necessary, Kay. I’ll be all right.”
    â€œI know you’ll be all right. That’s not the point. We need our friends with us at times like this, and I am your friend.”
    Danny needed her desperately, but he continued, “You’re busy, Kay. My mother is only ten minutes away. I can call her if I need to.”
    â€œDoes your mother know about Hezekiah?”
    Danny paused before answering. “No.”
    â€œDo you plan on telling her?” Kay asked in the tone of a woman who knew.
    â€œNo. She would never understand. I know my mother loves me, but I couldn’t risk her abandoning me the way you—”
    â€œI didn’t abandon you, Danny.”
    â€œBullshit, Kay,” Danny said bitterly. “You didn’t call me for months. You made me feel like our friendship all these years was a lie. That there were rules and limits you never bothered to tell me about. I don’t want to take that chance with my mother.”
    â€œYour mother loves you so much, Danny. I don’t think there’s anything you could do or say that would change that.”
    â€œI’m not sure if that’s true. She has her own preconceived idea of who I am. Anything that deviates from that and she’s not interested.” Danny sighed into the receiver. “Look at what happened when I thought you would never leave me. Our friendship was the one thing I thought I could count on, no matter what. But I was wrong.”
    â€œI deserve every horrible thing you have to say to me. There is no excuse for the way I reacted. All I can say is, I hope you can forgive me. You mean the world to me, and it hurts me to see you suffer alone like this.”
    Danny wanted to withhold his forgiveness, but it was impossible. He needed Kay in his life. “Our friendship is very important to me too.”
    â€œDoes that mean you forgive me?”
    Danny could hear a slight smile in her voice. He paused, not to decide if he could forgive Kay but rather to keep her in suspense for a moment longer. “Of course I forgive you,” he finally