| Go back to Part 3
"What's the matter, honey?"
Barbara noticed Francis twisting his fork around his plate of fettucini and veal but not taking a bite of it. They had headed to Capones Eatery for dinner after the funeral. She told him that she craved for their penne with plum tomatoes and portbello mushrooms in arrabiatta sauce. When they got there, she ended up ordering grilled salmon on linguini with wine sauce ("Something lighter for a sad day, I suppose." she mumbled).
"Hm? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about today's events."
"Shit...you told me that you were okay earlier! I knew that this was going to drag you over dead memories!"
"Shh...be quiet for a second." Francis pricked up his ears for a sound and lifted his eyes towards the skylight. "Do you hear that? Is it raining outside?"
Barbara looked up and saw the rain drops form beads around the window. The pitter-patter of the rainfall was as steady as it was faint.
"Yeah, so what? Don't change the subject, you bastard!"
Francis pulled the dinner napkin off his lap, got up, and walked towards the bay window at the back of the dining lounge. "Son of a bitch," Barbara muttered as she did the same and followed him.
The rain was coming down, making its way through the snow and exposing the frozen ground underneath. A waiter walked by with an empty Absolut Vodka bottle on his tray and mumbled, "It's bound to ice over pretty soon and then all hell will break loose." Francis ignored him and kept his eyes fixed on a small puddle forming in the middle of the parking lot. His stare was intense and probed the puddle like a fortune hunter looking for gold.
"What do you see in that puddle, Barbara?" Francis whispered.
"What the hell are you talking about? All I see is water! Pretty soon, I'm going to start seeing red if you don't come back to the table!"
As Barbara stormed back to the table in disgust, Francis's eyes began to water as tears began to form in the corner of his eyes.
"Yeah, that's still all I see, too..." | 
