It was such a shock; she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  The phone had rung at 3 am and the distraught voice on the other end said it was Mark.  There had been a terrible accident. Her immediate thought was he’d wrecked his Harley, everyone thought he would go that way.  It was sort of accepted he would die in some motorcycle accident because he loved to ride and was always taking his bike out despite bad road conditions.  But this was something different.  She couldn’t speak as she held the phone to her ear.  The voice stated the funeral would be tomorrow so there was not much time for it to really sink in. 

She booked a flight for 6:15 am and began hurriedly throwing things into a suitcase.  Her black dress, the one with the high collar and low hemline, went in first.  Then she grabbed a black pair of slacks and her favorite black top.  She went to the bathroom and reached for her makeup bag and hairbrush, these went into the suitcase as well.  She ran back to the closet and grabbed two pair of black shoes, one pair of pumps and the other with a low heel.  Back in the bedroom she opened one of her drawers and produced two pair of underwear and two bras which she threw into the bag.  Then she remembered hose and drew a pair of black ones from the drawer.  As she shoved these into the suitcase she realized she’d forgotten toiletries.  Back into the bathroom she ran for her travel sized bag of toiletries, she always kept travel size of everything: toothpaste, face soap, deodorant, toothbrush, face cream, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, dental floss and Chap Stick.  After tossing the bag of toiletries into the suitcase she thought to bring pajamas and also included a pair of flannel PJ’s before closing the lid and pulling the zipper around to the other side, securing her belongings inside. 

She threw on a pair of jeans with a t-shirt and headed downstairs.  The cab would be here soon.  At the bottom of the staircase she stopped to put on her sneakers.  It was then she spotted it; a lighter on the table next to her car keys.  She picked it up and turned it over in her hand.  It was a one of the prettiest lighters she’d ever seen, a silver zippo with an eagle etched into it.  She remembered the night she had asked Mark to for a light and he’s given her this lighter, she’d forgotten to give it back to him and ended up taking it home.  He called the next day to give her a hard time about stealing his lighter.  It had then become a running joke between the two of them, every time they’d see each other one of them would snake the lighter and take it home.  She’d been the last to ‘steal’ it.  As she looked at it she could hardly believe what had happened, a fire! God how could he have died in a fire?  Her eyes filled with tears.  Just then she heard the taxi honk. 

She put the lighter in her pocket and headed out the door.  She wasn’t sure if she should keep it for the memory or give it back to him.  But there would be time to consider that later.