Sometimes the world stops— and at the same time, everything keeps turning. It happened a few days later. My head felt both empty and full. I went to the butcher’s — not because I craved meat, but because Mama and I had to eat. There was a queue. People chatted. The doorbell chimed every time someone walked in. The counter gleamed, cold and spotless. A child pressed its fingers against the glass and looked at me, almost teasing. I noticed, but didn’t respond. “What can I get you, madam?” The woman ahead of me hesitated. “Half a kilo of fine sausages, please.” Life, apparently, went on! Bluntly. Effortlessly. While mine had come to a full stop. I walked home. On foot, like I so often do. Still recovering. Somehow I ended up on a path I knew, but hadn’t chosen. And right there, beneath an old weeping willow, it happened. My pace slowed until I stood still. He couldn’t have picked a more fitting place — grieving beneath a grieving tree. My heart quickened, yet I wasn’t afrai...