Letters To An Absent Father #10, or “An Empty Chair At The Dinner Table” (click for a larger image).
Something I love so much about this series is that while it’s just a few panels and a smattering of text about a Pokemon trainer’s notes to his estranged father, you can imagine so many scenes and emotions that continue beyond Mare Odomo’s heartrending strips.
You can hear the silence in the dining room, interrupted by noises of Ash’s mother cooking dinner in the nearby kitchen – a wooden spoon knocking the insides of a pot as she stirs a redolent curry, her footsteps from the stove to the sink before she rinses her hands, and a grunt of effort as she lifts the pot to carry it to the dinner table.
You can see Ash squeezing his eyes shut and pretending to already be asleep later that night as his mom walks into his old bedroom to kiss her son goodnight on his forehead – another conversation on how they worry about each other now living on their own avoided.
And you can picture Ash not waiting until morning to leave, unable to sleep in a house that feels so empty. He walks on the dusty road from Pallet Town to Viridian City, everything else still quiet and asleep during the pre-dawn hours except for a few distant Hoothoots. He’s angry with himself for running out, for not even writing a note to lie about why he had to go. Most of all, he hates himself for realizing too late that you can go back home, but you can’t ever go back to the way it was.
Buy: Pokemon HeartGold and/or SoulSilver
See also: More Letters To An Absent Father strips
[Via Mare Odomo]
