On the plus side, the way the color drained from their face was probably amusing. "Oh, shit. I am so sorry."

Their parents were alive. Both of them. But they remembered too well the dreams- the memories- of watching Mom collapse in the fields, her normally- muscular body so much thinner than it should have been, of watching Dad wheezing with every breath, fungal growths sprouting from every orifice- and of others, gone before their time.

They'd never meant to bring up such a painful moment. "Well. Now that I've... put my foot entirely in my mouth."