"A Box of Rain"

A woman makes a stunning discovery about her parents after their death that impacts her marriage forever. A short story about secrets and grief.

Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

“When Tarō returned to his hometown, everything had changed. His home was gone, his mother and father had perished, and the people he knew were nowhere to be seen. After not remembering the princess's warning, he lifted the lid of the Tamatebako box he was told never to open. A cloud of white smoke arose turning him to a white-haired old man.”

From the tale of “Urashima Tarō”

“We are a family of secrets… They drag us down like we’re wearing clothes in the water... We pretend that we’re not drowning. We never wave our arms for help… I never wave my arms for help…”

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After my mother’s death, my father spent his last eleven months in his office on the second floor, consulting with his old architectural firm when they’d take his calls. The design of his home office was his one architectural misfire, a miserable room with penitentiary cracks of light for windows and a million dollars of lightning to get his cement tomb to glow. Towards the …