short story

First Kiss

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Chapter II: The Double Date – Dad’s Version

            “As good as your mom’s story was, I’m sure she left out a few things,” Gus said while laying down on the other side of Ginny.  It was a small bed so there wasn’t room for all three so Kristina slid off and sat on an exercise ball.

            “Well,” Ginny said, “she hasn’t actually told me about the kiss yet.”

            Gus looked at Kristina and cocked his eyebrow.

            “I told her about the double date,” Kristina explained.

            “Oh, right,” he nodded his head.  “Your mom’s first kiss.”

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First Kiss

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Chapter I: The Double Date – Mom’s Version

            “Mom, mom, moooooom!” Ginny yelled.

            Of course, Kristina could hear her daughter.  She was pretty sure the neighbors heard the call as well.  But she was determined not to be bullied into action by her demanding ten-year-old.  After several calls though, she couldn’t take it anymore. If her husband, Gus, had been home from work she might have had the will power to hold out a bit longer or maybe he would have responded for her.  Instead, she was tired and she needed Ginny to go to sleep so that she could fall asleep herself watching tv while waiting for Gus to come home. Her nap before bedtime was somehow her most restful sleep of the night and she needed it.

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Story behind the Post: Family Thanksgiving Dinner

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First off, I was a little excited to see the 5-Saturday month fell in November. Which meant I finally was able to do a Thanksgiving story and didn’t have to come up with another Christmas story. I think – without fact checking – I’ve done a Halloween story (back when I was doing 4-part short stories) and at least a couple of Christmas stories. But this year I can now add a Thanksgiving story to my little collection.

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Family Thanksgiving Dinner: Chapter V

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Chapter V: Dad

             Out of everyone’s hands I didn’t see in the air when I asked my question earlier, I was most surprised to not see dad’s.  My mild-mannered, quiet dad.  I was always told I was just like him so I expected out of everyone in this room, his hand would have been raised in solidarity with mine. I was wrong.

            Dad looked around at all of us and seemed a little nervous at the attention.  He cleared his throat and nodded at mom.  “First of all, I was the one that gave your grandma the elephant to begin with.”

            It wasn’t that surprising but somehow, we all gasped like it was some revealing piece of information.

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Family Thanksgiving Dinner: Chapter IV

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Chapter IV: Mom

Everyone waited for mom to explain.  Despite being in the room and hearing the conversation leading up to my question she still seemed surprised. Like a student hearing the words pop quiz, she responded with “Hmmm?”

“The Elegant Elephant?” I asked matching the look on her face at having to explain.

She sighed and picked up the speed of her stirring.  “Well, there was the time that Curtis broke it. We didn’t even attempt that good of job fixing it by then.”

            I looked at Curtis.

            “Mom!” he said.  “I think we could have gone a bit longer without that coming up.”

            “I just thought we were clearing the air, here,” mom said defensively and sat down on the chair.

            “It’s not a confessional,” Curtis said.  “We could have left that part out.  It is not pertinent to this story.”

            “No,” Sam said smiling, “do tell.  All these years it was always, ‘Sam broke the elephant.  Don’t tell, don’t tell.’  Nice to see I have company.”

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Family Thanksgiving Dinner: Chapter III

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Chapter III: Sam

            To be clear, using all three syllables of my sister’s name is akin to mom using multiple punctuation.  It meant serious business.  Even though I was her older brother, my ‘little’ sister out-massed me by about 10 pounds of muscle.  It’s been that way since she turned 15 and I was in my early 20’s.  Which is about the last time I dared call her by her full first name.  Not only that, she fights dirty.  But this was serious business.

            Sam came around the corner slowly glaring at me.  Mom’s curiosity was piqued so she stood behind Sam.  All I could see was her eyes peeking over Sam’s shoulder.  “What?” Sam said in a monotone that was surprisingly threatening.

            I didn’t care how tough she was at the moment.  “You broke the Elegant Elephant?” I asked pointing to the shelf where it should have been.  No more being covert about my mission today.  I noticed mom quickly retreat back into the kitchen.

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Family Thanksgiving Dinner: Chapter II

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Chapter II: Curtis

            I am ashamed to admit my first thought at seeing the missing heirloom was there was no chance in selling it if it was missing.  No, I wasn’t planning on selling a gift from my grandma but I was also aware of the potential value.  Which made me acutely aware of the loss.  In essence, I had been robbed! 

            That was my initial human reaction.  But I recovered before making a scene.  I silently regained my composure so that I could exchange the necessary politeness a social gathering required.  This dinner just earned a new obligation.  I was going to have to don the hat of a private investigator to figure out where my inheritance was at currently.  Hopefully, it had just been moved (another hopeful thought) for its safety and was awaiting (one more hopeful thought) me to retrieve it.  I refused to panic quite yet.  Besides, if I threw a fuss and caused a scene the others would question me and somehow probably find out about the value of the figurine.  I mean, it took me less than five minutes on Google.  Again, I must express the fact that the value does not matter to me.  But it might look suspicious.  Better to keep the value to myself and conduct a private investigation.

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Family Thanksgiving Dinner

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Chapter I: Elegant Elephant

            I stood outside my grandma’s house and sighed.  Thanksgiving at grandma’s was definitely not going to the same this year.  This was something I had been dreading since I received the invitation from my mom last month.  I tried desperately to come up with an excuse but it was made clear no excuse was acceptable.  Thanksgiving at grandma’s was mandatory this year.  While coercion is not usually an acceptable invitation, I decided I would go to the house one last time, suffer through the dinner, and pick up what was mine.

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Story behind the Post: Plan C

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Last month’s Saturday’s short story was a continuation of June’s short story. Every year there seems to be those two months with 5 Saturdays separated by only a month. Every year I say I will not do a 10-part short story again. Every year I end up doing a 10-part short story and regret it. So, yes I did another 10-part short story and no, I don’t regret it. But I still struggled with it.

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Plan C: Chapter V

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Plan C: The Joy of Daily To-Dos

Lizzie watched the passing train and took a bite of her sandwich.  A year ago today she had sat in a bus as it brought her home.  She remembered that day well.  Mainly the overwhelming feeling of failure.  But that was a year ago.  That girl, thankfully, no longer existed.  The year had morphed her into someone else.  Someone who no longer felt the bitter pangs of failure but felt more…what word could describe it?  Successful wasn’t the exact word because she was still a work in progress.  No, what she felt now was confidence.  And she felt pity for that unsure girl from a year ago and wished she could give her some encouragement.  It was a process, emphasis on process, but she felt like for the first time in probably her entire adult life her feet were firmly planted on the ground.  It was ironic that the ground her feet were firmly planted on was in her hometown.  The town she was so eager to leave at one time.

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