Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: MAIL (02/18/16)
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TITLE: Collect on Delivery | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jody Day
02/25/16 -
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The contents of the letter caused her to gasp and drop to her knees on the floor, which stirred up a generation of attic dust that sucked down into her throat. A fit of coughing sent her to the tiny attic window. She pushed it open and leaned out, her lungs fighting for fresh air, and her brain reeling for answers.
Mom sent Dad a Dear John letter? She’d fallen in love with Haskell James? Dad’s best friend and childhood neighbor? The letter dropped to her lap as she covered her face with her hands, her mind searching back through the years.
Mom and Dad had married just a few weeks after he returned home from Germany, so what about Haskell James? Throughout her happy childhood, she never sensed any unhappiness between them. Except for the feeling she must have been adopted because she was freakishly tall and the only person in the family with flaming red hair, she’d had a beautiful life with her parents. Why had her mother never told her about this?
She couldn’t ask her late parents, but she could ask Haskell James. Still the next door neighbor, she decided to pay him visit.
Mr. James met her at the door, straight and tall for an elderly man. He ran a hand through his thick, gray hair and cleared his throat.
“Amanda, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Come inside,” he said, holding the screen door open for her.
How had he known her name? She slipped past him into the house, realizing she’d not thought this through. It was so long ago and probably meant nothing, but the compulsion to come drove her mindlessly on. He led her to a couch in the living room. She couldn’t find her voice.
“What’s this?” He pointed to the envelope she’d forgotten she had in her hand.
“I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry,” she said, standing to leave.
He reached for the letter and pulled it from the crumpled envelope. Tears welled up in his eyes as he scanned it and then handed it back to her.
“Water under the bridge, Amanda. No use dredging all that up.”
She stared at his emotion filled face. ‘Water under the bridge’ was not enough explanation.
“Amanda, as you well know, your parents were married more than fifty years. Your dad came home, but had never received the letter. He was wounded, Amanda, nearly lost his arm. Surely you know that. Anyway, Jane and I couldn’t bear to hurt him. He was my best friend. What they had was real and they had a good marriage, and I did too with my Sarah. Simple as that.”
Amanda searched his eyes. He’d spoken as if it had been no big deal, but his eyes told another story. His eyes spoke of great loss. He must have truly loved her mother.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say. I rushed over here without thinking, I should go now,” she said. She turned to leave and bumped into a small table, upsetting several framed photographs. She reached to straighten them, but one caught her eye.
“Is this you?” She asked.
He coughed a bit before nodding.
She stared at the photo taken when he must have been about forty, flaming red hair shining in the sun. The photo dropped from her hands as she glanced at Haskell James, his face tortured with the pain of all he’d lost.
Amanda stumbled back to the couch, the truth creating more questions. But did she want to know?
“I’m sorry, Amanda. I was afraid when I heard you’d decided to move into the old place that you’d find out somehow. I didn’t expect you so soon and I wasn’t prepared.”
“I don’t understand. Surely Daddy knew.”
“I believe he did, eventually, and it’s probably why they moved to New York immediately after they married. I never had any say in it. But I’ve prayed for you every day of your life.”
One life closed, and another opened for Amanda that day.
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