top of page
Search
  • Writer's pictureNeon Mariposa Magazine

See Me, Feel Me by Ty Halton


I’ve never been to a funeral before.


I always thought there’d be a bunch of people wearing black and crying and sitting

around with tissues against their faces to catch the waterfall of tears spilling down their

cheeks. That everyone would simply exist in the funeral hall, just being somber. I

thought all funerals took place in a church and there would be an organ playing Chopin’s

Death March and someone would give a speech over the body and everyone is united in

their depression.


We all think wrong sometimes.


The funeral – if one could call it that – is being held in a banquet room at a quaint little

restaurant off the 99 that looks like one sigh from a mildly depressed soul could

demolish it. I like to think that most of the people here probably got lost on the way to

the place. It’s easy to miss.


Shades of green fill the room – table cloths, chairs, napkins, even the deserts were green

(which only makes sense, because green Jell-O is obviously the best Jell-O). The handful

of people inside are all wearing dresses and shirts and ties and the like that make the

room look like a succulent shop.


There is no body. Only a podium and a photo of the smiling man we all once knew.

Piercing green eyes take the full focus of the photo.


I linger in the back corner, hoping someone will notice me.


They’re all too busy talking to each other to realize I’m there. I wander over to a small

cluster of men, a collection of Dos Equis bottles found at the bottom of the canal after a

frat boy summer. They’re giving each other hugs. Handshakes. Words of

encouragement. Talk about how they haven’t seen each other in ages and how sad it is

that they meet again on such a terrible occasion.


They don’t see me. Don’t feel me.


A group of old women with hair as silver as the spoon with which most of the people

here were fed walk past, moving toward one of the tables in the center of the room. I

follow. I sit amongst them at their table, my pale hands a stark contrast against the

green table cloth. A younger woman with dark brown hair and sunken brown eyes lets

out a small sob. I put my hand on top of hers.


She doesn’t react.


A young raven-haired man, nineteen years old, with more stress lines on his forehead

than someone his age should ever have is sitting on the other side of the room. Alone.

His presence takes me by surprise. I didn’t expect to see him here. Up until now, I was

absolutely sure that I was so far in his past that I had not a hope of being even a footnote

in his present.


But here he is. Wearing a pale green button down that makes his emerald eyes look dull.

They usually sparkle even in the dark; but the light that once shown in them is long

gone. I lean down in front of him. He doesn’t see me.


I put a hand on his knee. He doesn’t feel me.


But I think he knows that I’m there.


I wonder if he still thinks about everything. The Padre games. The late-night walks to

the corner store for chips and soda that was way too sugary for a kid. The long rides to

wrestling matches. The fights and inconsolable nights. The wars where neither of us

walked away a winner. The two years we went without talking.


My son. See me. Feel me, I urge.


But he doesn’t.


He walks over to his mother. Hugs her. She kisses him on the cheek.


It’s good to see them there together. To know that neither of them are alone.


His mother brings the room to order. They say a small prayer. She talks about my battle

with an evil disease that rips far too many souls from this world. People come and say a

few kind words next to my photo. Godspeed. Rest easy. Rest in peace.


I stand next to my family. Right in front of my son. My boy.


See me. Feel me, I whisper. Put a hand on his shoulder.


He looks up. He doesn’t see me. But he feels me. He knows I’m there.


And I always will be.





Ty Halton is 24 years old and lives in Bakersfield, California. He is an actor, writer, and

director. He earned his BA in English and Theatre from California State University,

Bakersfield and is seeking an MFA in Playwriting. He has been previously published in

Orpheus Literary Journal.

26 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

the cankerous grackles in the parking lots swarming in synchronicity like a biblical plague they don’t scare easy no matter how mean you make your face instead they congregate right in your path and t

across the room from me, my guitar pulses bright colors, throbs dreams I can’t ignore. I think about sleep but the music’s too loud. my guitar sprouts lilies not intended to twine, purrs of birds I’ll

Hope to Thaw If I were frozen in the ground, I’d hope to thaw. I’m left with muddy footprints and sticky fingers- I’m a thief. I stole what I needed to survive: a wet tongue, a Celtic cross against a

bottom of page