At the cemetery, Noah suddenly noticed the boots placed in front of him.
He knew them immediately.
Emily had not expected that.
Noah touched the leather.
Then the laces.
Then he leaned forward and pressed his face against them.
Daddy.
Emily broke down.
One of the honor guard members looked away.
Another lowered his eyes.
Noah did not understand the ceremony.
The uniforms.
The flag.
The silence.
But he understood the boots.
Those were the boots that crossed the kitchen floor.
The boots that stood beside his bed.
The boots that carried him upstairs when he fell asleep on the couch.
Emily knelt beside him.
Noah looked up.
Daddy come get shoes?
Emily’s heart broke.
She shook her head.
No.
Daddy cannot come get them.
Noah started crying.
Then he wrapped both arms around the boots.
Emily pulled him gently against her.
For the first time, she realized Noah did understand something.
Not death.
Not yet.
But absence.
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