Remarkably Bright Creatures

by Shelby Van Pelt

She understands what it means to never be able to stop moving, lest you find yourself unable to breathe.

The inability to stop moving

Tova wonders sometimes if it’s better that way, to have one’s tragedies clustered together, to make good use of the existing rawness. Get it over with in one shot. Tova knew there was a bottom to those depths of despair. Once your soul was soaked though with grief, any more simply ran off, overflowed, the way maple syrup on Saturday-morning pancakes always cascaded onto the table whenever Erik was allowed to pour it himself.

Clustered tragedy

Ah, to be a human, for whom bliss can be achieved by mere ignorance!

Bliss in ignorance

But you would do well to believe me when I tell you this: the young male who has recently taken

Cameron related to Tova

over sanitation duties is a direct descendant of the cleaning woman with the injured foot.

cleaned. I must persevere, for their sake. I cannot bear to leave this story unfinished, as it is now. As I fear it will always be, if I do not intervene to help them realize.

Marcelus perservering to help

She and Will had gone to the grocery store the afternoon of the day Erik died. Tova remembers buying a box of those junky cream-filled snack cakes Erik always liked. Had Will chosen the slow checkout lane that day? If he’d picked the faster one, would they have arrived home in time to see Erik before he left for his job at the ferry dock? Would they have caught him sneaking beer from the fridge? Would he have mentioned that he was seeing a girl now? Would he have told Tova her name was Daphne and he couldn’t wait to bring her over for supper?

What ifs-slow lane of life

She drags in a long breath and sits up. “Enough of that,” she says aloud. Enough of allowing one single summer night in 1989 to shape every last aspect of her life. Enough searching for answers that no longer exist. Enough of living with these ghosts, in this house. Charter Village will be a new start.

Single night in 1989 shaping the ret of her life

“I wish you could tell me,” she says to the bay. She will always wish this. But even knowing what happened that night can’t bring him back. Nothing can.

Wishing the bay can answer the mystery

Tova has never been much of a hugger, but when Cameron’s face starts to break apart, she finds herself pulled to him like a magnet. His arms wrap around her neck, squeezing her against his chest. For what seems like a very long time, she rests her cheek against his sternum, which is warm. She can’t help but notice that his T-shirt appears to be stained and smells oddly like motor oil. Perhaps that’s intentional? Never again will Tova make assumptions about a T-shirt.

On finding fam and t shirts

Humans. For the most part, you are dull and blundering. But occasionally, you can be remarkably bright creatures.

Remarkably brighgpt creatures