Tuesday Morning

The following morning I went to my parents' house, both to gather clothing items and to pack the books Dad had earmarked for the Garden into boxes. 

I also needed to empty their fridge. Over the last year or so, their house had developed a bad odor. Neither of them claimed to smell it, but it was the smell of rotting things. I had convinced my Dad to put their trashcan outside and not in the garage, but the smell remained. Cleaning the fridge out had worked once early in the odor's appearance. 

So that morning I cleaned everything out of the fridge and began to sort nonperishables. The trashcan filled up quickly. 

I also had my first conversation with their garage neighbor. He was a man about my age. They shared a garage courtyard with three other houses. He was directly across from their house. I told him the situation so he would know what was happening and why all of a sudden my parents had disappeared and I was there. 

He offered to take their trashcan down when it needed it. He also told me he had been a bit concerned about them for a while. 

At some point that morning I got a call from my dad. He was clearly with someone and he was angry; he wanted to call a taxi and they wouldn't let him. I calmed him and down and told him I would be over to see them after lunch. He agreed to wait for me.