The Death of Aunt Jenny

When I was 10 years old my aunt Jenny died. I was saddened by her passing. She lived in Atlantic City where she worked as a nurse. When summers came we would get into my father’s car and drive to Atlantic City to visit Aunt Jenny. Aunt Jenny was sort of a mystery person to me as a 10 year old. One strange thing that I remember was when the family got a phone call from someone at Atlantic city Hospital. Aunt Jenny had had an emergency Appendectomy and was seriously ill and might die. What I remember about that day is a guilty experience I had. We were all franticly getting ready to have my father drive us to Atlantic city when in the confusion my father could not find his car keys. At that time we lived in a three story house. My father asked me to go upstairs and look for the car keys on the third floor. After a brief search of the bedroom I found the keys. The keys were in a leather key holder with a snap button on one side. As I turned to bring the keys downstairs to my father I had a thought. Just like the way we kids would flip baseball cards as a game, I would flip the key holder to determine if Genny would live or die. Button side up she would live, button side down she would die. I stopped on the second floor landing and flipped the key holder. It spun to the floor first one side up and then the other finally landing button side down. I felt a moment of horrifying guilt that I had caused the death of Jenny. After a hair raising, drive breaking speed limits,we arrived at Atlantic City Hospital. Aunt Jenny had died at just about the same time I had flipped the key holder.