I’m SO glad I finally “balled-up” enough to join in with this group, and including this intro, I believe I’m more than maxing the 500-word count allowable for this week’s Write On Edge challenge.
Please click the link above to learn more about the prompt and the community, and as always, I hope you enjoy…
Watching him zip up the last of the three bags he’d hastily thought to pack, she became further irritated as he tried to compress its contents – with one shaky knee held hard against the fabric lid – while fiddling with the steel slider which protested loudly as he tugged it along the plastic teeth that were its mate. Timing it to where the entire endeavor appeared to be at its most fruitless, she waited before asking snidely, “So that’s it? You’re leaving then?”
Wha? Oh. Yeah.
“Just like that?”
Yes.
“Just ‘poof,’ and you’re gone?”
For God’s sake, YES! Why?
“She’s not going to be waiting for you, you know.”
She will.
“She won’t.”
She might.
Emboldened by his moment of caution and pause, she leapt forward unmindful into the din of her verbal castration of him, stressing, “Listen. There is nothing waiting for you out there anyway. You know that, right?”
There’s nothing waiting for me here either.
“Oh yeah? What about your career?”
Not for nothing, but I’m fairly certain that they have those where I’m going as well…
“What about the house?”
It’s not in my name anymore – it’s not my house anymore. It’s… it’s not my home.
“And what about me? What about your poor mother?”
Well. I’m sure the ole girl will understand. I’m sure you’ll get it, why I need to do this… Maybe some day.
“Well don’t be so certain of that. And what about the children? What about your children?”
Having finally secured the zipper – now groaning under its newfound charge of keeping all the baggage safely contained within, he sat back for a moment and wiped his haggled brow before almost whispering, and almost to himself, “Yes, there is them. That’s true.”
What…?
“I said that yes, there is that to contend with.”
See? You can’t leave. You need them.
“I do. But don’t you see? I sleep alone every night, while they sleep in the same house as her latest fling. No, they’ve already been taken from me. A long time ago. And besides, they’re almost adults now themselves.”
You can’t leave. I won’t let you. They need you.
“You know what? I’ve always told them that we’d all someday get out of this dump. I just never thought that I’d be the first to make the break. They do need me, but they need me to continue to lead by example. I think I’m doing the right thing here.”
She’s not going to be waiting for you, you know.
“She might.”
She won’t.
Rising on steady legs, he casually pulled the over-stuffed, yet self-contained third bag from the floor, and slung it across his back. Ignoring the still-protesting zipper as he did so, his step matched his smile as he strode enlivened towards the front door and the gate that lay beyond it, while saying much more to himself then to anyone within earshot, “She will.”
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