Ben ticks off points on his fingers …
“One: Dad is at his party.
Two: Khiara is working late.
Let’s grab Grandma and settle in for a movie marathon or as much of one as we can before they get home.”

**sighs upon seeing the look on Bell’s face**
“Or we can get our homework done and then get the popcorn popping. There will still be plenty of time for at least one movie.”

Ben: “If we work together, we can get this done faster.” He then proceeds to read the problem out loud. “The width of the stage is 35 feet longer than the depth. If the perimeter is 170 feet, what are the dimensions of the stage?”
Bell: “Ugh. Math!”

Times passes

As they are finishing up, they hear an unusual sound and get a sense of foreboding. The twins start looking around the house, trying to figure out where it is coming from and what is going on.

It doesn’t take them long to realize that the sound is coming from the home office and they rush to the door and look in the room.

Oh, no!

“Grandmaaa …”

Ben and Bell comfort one another as best as they could before heading off to bed in tears. Neither thought to contact their Dad or Khiara.

Van arrives home to a quiet house.

He enters the home office, planning to do a little work before calling it a night, but all thoughts of work fly out of his mind as soon as he sees the urn on the floor and knows what it means.

“Oh, no … Mom! I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you tonight. If I had known, I would have re-scheduled the party and maybe …”
**cries**

Khiara arrives home and quickly pulls a sobbing man into her arms.
“There, there. She had a good and long life. Even though we might not want to say our goodbyes, it was her time to go. She loved you very much, Van. You. Duncan. Ben. Bell. All of you held special places in her heart and she was very proud of each of you.”

Goodbye Summer. You will be greatly missed!

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