Write, Edit, Published bloghop. This blog hop was started by the lovely Denise Covy and joining her is Yolanda Renee. This month the challenge is to write a story with the prompt, Reunion. Sorry I'm late, I won't bore you with the reason. To read other fabulous stories, go here.
Reunion
Timothy reached for the letter he’d set aside three
days ago and gazed at the return address. His anger hadn’t subsided from when
he first found it in his mail slot. Rather, it had intensified.
Rage had kept him from his family all these years. More
than twenty. He nurtured it. Like rain on sandy soil, his irritation flowed in
little rivulets, each holding the memories of what had been done to him. The
first when he had been fifteen. His father accepted a job in New York City and
moved his entire family from the beaches of southern California to the city
that never sleeps. A surfer, Timothy had lost his chance to compete in the
champion trials, and he’d lost his friends. There wasn’t any place to surf in
New York City.
At school, he had to endure name calling and never did
make new friends. His grades had plummeted. Who knew what might have happened
in southern California. He might have been on the honor roll. In New York he
flunked. There was no ivy league school for him. Instead, he attended a small
college.
When he’d graduated from that little college, his
father didn’t come. Afterwards, in an argument his father let him know that he
was a big failure and a disappointment.
He landed a job in California shortly after that and
had moved. Every year invitations came for family reunions and Christmas. He
threw them all away and never sent a single gift. He ignored news of his sister’s
weddings and the birth of their children. He burned the only photos he had of
his father.
He jumped in his chair when the phone rang. Timothy
lifted his iPhone and recognized the number from New York. He nearly tossed the
expensive phone aside, but something made him stop. Who would it be? His father
or his mother? Father never called him. But his mother had left one tearful
message after another on his Birthday’s and a Christmas. It was probably her.
The only bright spot in the list of wrong doing.
His mother had encouraged him through all the
problems. If it hadn’t been for her, he never would have gone to college at
all.
He swiped the phone and hesitated before saying, “Hello.”
“Timothy.” It was his father. His thumb hovered near
the end call button.
“Please come, your mother has cancer. Her only wish is
to see you again.”
Word Count: 408
I can't say that this was the most joyful thing I've ever written, but this is what came to me. I hope you enjoyed it.
Nancy
