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When We Die We Go To Mars
Unwrapping Significance
During his sophomore year in high school Andrew’s mother died after a prolonged battle with cancer. Less than a year later his father got hit by a car while crossing Pelham Parkway, dying a few days after.
We both went to Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx and were good friends back then. He had no religion or mythology to make these difficult events more comfortable to deal with, but he seemed to do okay and I did what I could to support him. But not long after his father was gone Andrew was sent to live with his father’s sister in Brooklyn and we saw each other less and less.
When we did see each other he would tell me about his new school and friends and especially his Aunt Donna. She seemed nice and was more than happy to give him the spare room that had been her son’s before he married and moved out. She treated Andrew with kindness and made sure he had whatever he needed. Having once been a chef, she also made him some amazing meals.
One small compromise Andrew had made was to sit patiently whenever his aunt got into a spin on one of the many esoteric beliefs and conspiracy theories that she was sweet on. She’d read the Theosophists, been audited by Scientology, and was even captivated with Mormonism briefly—until she encountered their racism, and underwear. (We had a…
