David A Rodriguez

Family is everything

It was about 1:30 in the morning when he came into this world, the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, feet first, and fighting for his life. Jason was the third attempt at childbirth by his mother, and for some strange reason, he survived. The first would’ve been about 10 years of age , the second, oh about 15 to 16years of age, but aside from all of that Jason survived. Around his 14th birthday he began to see images in his sleep about a little black rectangle, stuck behind a wall. He would knock a hole in the wall, reach in for the object, but he always appeared too imbedded for him to move. No matter how he pulled, and tugged, no matter what he used to try to pry the thing out, it just wouldn’t move, and the very moment it seems as if it were coming loose, he would wake up with the fading image of the little black rectangle in his head for the rest of his day. Years went by and for the love of everything he had known Jason just could not figure out why he continued to have these “dreams” about the rectangle. Was it some strange message meant to turn his life upside down?!, was it some mysterious sign of something coming his way?!, or was he actually crazy enough to see this “ thing” for no obvious reason at all?! How could he find out, and who could he even begin to try and confide in to see if some inkling of sense would be made of it all?! Perplexed, Jason considered the fact that maybe there was more to this “mystery” shape than met the eye, and he had better start taking more “interested” approach to the matter. After all, he was 40 years old now, and in the midst of everything life could have to offer, or give for that matter, this wretched “rectangle” would simply not go away from his thoughts, nor dreams, and it was time to get to bottom of this whole “Pandora rectangle” thing, he had enough. On his way one morning to a “shrink’s” office that was recommended by a friend, of a friend, of a friend, Jason was distracted by a small black rectangular shape that seemed to move through city scape with him as he drove downtown to meet this “ Doctor” and could not resist the urge to actually see if that indeed was the case, and little did Jason know that was exactly what it was, he was being followed. It felt as if the “object was calling to him, beckoning him to find its place of rest, and see what was in store for him. It was at that particular moment Jason made the decision to answer the call, and find his precious rectangle, that had plagued his dreams and visions for most of his life, it was time to put an end to not knowing jut what this mysterious shape was. Having no known family throughout his adult life was one of the other things in his life that seemed to enter and exit his thoughts randomly it seemed, just like the little black rectangle did , ever and over again. Jason had no known living relatives, and going throughout life watching other people with their families, and hearing the conversations about who was bringing what to the family reunion this year, and who’s house they going to for Sunday dinner rang in his ears day in and day out, forcing Jason to yearn for family of his own, only to end up with more people in his life that were “like” family, until. Jason, in his persistent search for the little black rectangle, ventured off into a part of the city he normally steered clear of, the “south side”, everyone hated the south side, and Jason was none the different. In an alley, about two blocks long itself, aand about as wide as three tractor trailers, he noticed a small black corner of something protruding out of what appeared to be a wall of of some sorts. The closer Jason got to the object the more and more he felt as if he were falling asleep, it made him feel as if he had finally found “it”, the rectangle, the enigma that antagonized him his whole adult life, and then it hit him, like a flash of light from one of those cheap drugstore cameras with the overly bright flash, it wasn’t just some black rectangle, it wasn’t just some strange vision Jason was having, in fact what he saw this time, was a little black book. He began to look around for something he could use to get it free from the dilapidated structure and located an old crowbar which he used to carefully break and remove the debris surrounding it, when he finally had it in his hands, he turned it over after dusting it off and read the title out loud in an overwhelming wave of tears, it said, Jason’s family!