The Riddle in the Waiting Room

The hospital waiting room smelled of antiseptic and rain. Elena sat in the plastic chair, her wool hat pulled low over eyes that hadn't slept properly in three days. The oncologist had mentioned something about a clinical trial, but her brain had stopped processing after 'aggressive' and 'uncertain.'

On the table beside her sat a magazine with a crossword puzzle partially completed. The clue for 4-Down asked: 'Egyptian creature with human head and lion body.' SPHINX, she filled in mechanically. Her daughter Luna had been obsessed with mythology at age seven, demanding bedtime stories about riddles and monsters. Now Luna was twenty-three, halfway across the country, and Elena was deciding whether to ruin her graduation week with news she couldn't bring herself to say aloud.

Outside, lightning fractured the sky—a sudden, violent illumination that made the fluorescent overhead lights flicker. The woman across from her jumped, then gave Elena an apologetic smile. 'I hate storms,' she said. 'My husband's out in this.'

Elena nodded. 'My daughter's graduating Thursday.' Why had she said that?

'Congratulations.' The woman hesitated. 'You going?'

The sphinx had asked Oedipus: what walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, three in the evening? The answer was man. The riddle was about time, about the inevitable progression from helplessness to strength back to helplessness. Elena had always found it cruel—this mythological creature withholding passage from those who couldn't articulate their own mortality.

She had booked a ticket this morning. Another flash of lightning lit up the window, and this time Elena saw her own reflection—hat, exhaustion, the particular set of her mouth that Luna had inherited. The oncologist's voice returned: 'if you want to fight this, and some people do, we have options.'

Elena stood up. The hat was ridiculous, really. She pulled it off and smoothed her gray-streaked hair. The crossword magazine went into her bag. She would go to the graduation. She would tell Luna afterward. The answer wasn't in the riddle—it was in the asking.