Etherally Excised

They were wined and dined by their beloved New Orleans on an oddly comfortable August evening that was so uncharacteristically cool, it persuaded them to leave the windows open while they made love under the watchful eye of the moon. He was unsettled by her body that night as he sensed that something had taken up residence in or near her womb.

It was an emergency trip to the hospital and an ultrasound of her new found girth that gave light to their worst fear. The form was lifeless and potentially diseased, and they found themselves at the surgical doors whispering prayers and exchanging kisses, that once they received the news, would turn to sobs. The doctor discovered cysts had formed on her ovaries and their necessary removal would rob them of their tomorrows.

Soon storms rolled in and there was no time to mourn, just days after the surgery they were forced to flee the home they shared to higher, drier ground. When asked years later about her Hurricane Katrina experience all she could say was, that's when God washed all her babies away.