Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
Life Changing
“Wake Up, Baby!!! You’re going to be late”, Lisa’s mom yelling for her from downstairs. As she wakes up, Lisa cannot help but to think about her dream. This dream has been haunting her for some time now and she just cannot shake it . “Coming mom”, yelling with enough respect but an air of frustration. Lisa’s mom was sending her to stay with her father in New York, while she traveled to Savannah, Georgia to take care of her mother who had mysteriously become ill. It had been over three years since she seen her father as her mother and father had separated due to their inability to remain cordial after his affair. Lisa had inadvertently mentioned the lady after finding her at her father’s office “helping” him clean up his space, the only problem was she didn’t know that she was someone that her father had been seeing and her mother had asked him repeatedly to leave the lady alone. The last straw was when the lady showed up to the holding a small bundle, later learned to be his newborn son by the lady. Lisa’s mother refused to allow him to embarrass her any longer as the small town they lived in knew all about the affair and no one wanted to let her know, choosing to allow her to continue believing that her home life was perfect, when it was all falling apart. Lisa finished her shower, quickly dressed and ran downstairs, grabbing her book bag as jogged out of the door to her mom waiting impatiently in the car. Her mother raced to the train station to drop her 14 year old daughter off for her journey to her father’s on her way out of town. “Remember, do not say anything to your father about my mother being ill”, Lisa’s mother said. “I don’t want him getting any ideas about the possibility of their being any money if something happens to your grandmother”, her mother said. Lisa reflected on something her grandmother told her during Christmas, saying “Baby, your grandmother is getting old and may not be here much longer”, grandmother whispered to Lisa as they sat quietly looking at the fire. As Lisa remember this conversation, tears began to gather in her eyes and she began to think about living life without being able to see her grandmother again. “Baby, there is something I want you to have, but it will need to wait until I pass on”, her grandmother said, however her aunt Mary and Uncle John had walked in and grandmother, Maggie fell quiet as if she didn’t want them to know what she was sharing with Lisa. As Lisa boarded the train, she couldn’t get this conversation out of her mind. Sitting down near the front of train, Lisa sat down and proceeded to pull out her small black notebook to write in hopes of deciphering her dream. Lisa spent much of her time since her parents split writing in her small black notebook including poems, pictures and numbers that showed up consistently in her dream. Lately, she had been dreaming the numbers 4, 8, 23, and 49, but couldn’t figure out what they meant. Lisa’s train arrived in New York at 2 am. Lisa waited for her father to pull up to the station. When he arrived, he expressed that he was happy to see her, but she was met with a coldness by the lady, now knowing her name as Christine. “Your mother could’ve picked an earlier train or you could have waited here until morning”, Christine barked expressing her disgust with having to be responsible for the daughter of the woman of whose husband she had taken. Lisa ignored her focusing on the continued persistence of those numbers that she had been thinking of. The next morning, Lisa received a call from her mother saying two words, “She’s gone”. Lisa immediately started crying and couldn’t believe she would never hear her grandmother again. “Oh by the way”, before she past, mom said for me to tell you when you were four, you had eight stuffed animals that you would bring to her house and your asked her to keep them. She also said that you and she would walk down to the river and sit near the twenty-third pier. She told me to tell you she loved you very much and that she knows that you have had a hard time with everything that has happened but if you tell the man at the dock that I have passed on, he would know what to do. For a minute, Lisa was at a loss for words as she was now missing her grandmother, but there were those numbers again and the only one left was 49. Lisa asked her mother if she could travel down for the funeral. When Lisa arrived to Georgia, she felt a knowing that her life was about to change. After the funeral, Lisa asked her mother if she could go for a walk. Her mother dealing with her grief, tearfully agree despite her fear that something may happen, but also needing time to get her thoughts. Lisa ran down to the pier and found the man at the dock and shared her grandmother’s passing. He immediately showed her to a set of lockers where there was also a small black notebook, but also an attaché, with her name and note in locker number 49. Lisa opened the bag and saw nothing but cash and a note that said: “ Dear granddaughter, I love you and cherish the time that we spent together. I have saved this $20,000 for you to do whatever you want and need to do. I know that you have always wanted to write stories and I believe this will help you,” Love Grandmas Maggie .
By Melissa Enoch5 years ago in Families
Maybe Next Year
I grew up in a loving home with my mother, father, and three siblings. My widowed grandmother came to live with us shortly after my twin brother, David, and I were born. Oh yeah, we are sixteen years younger than my sister, Mickie, and fourteen years younger than my brother, Michael. It happens. 😉
By Christine Smith5 years ago in Families
What was Owed and Given
It was only after giving his dad’s eulogy that Mark realised how little he knew about the man. He had spent hours trying to draft something heartfelt and even after writing the words he felt empty. Not because he felt any grief, mind you. He just didn’t care.
By Jarrod Hogan5 years ago in Families
The Greatest Love
Jane was an eccentric being, standing alone in a community full of Gospel. It were of no surprise to her, being raised within the Bible Belt, that she didn’t fit “in”. Coming of course from a family of prestigious Pentecostals, she felt a certain duty toward morality. However, that wasn’t quite who she desired to be. Never was she allowed to cut her hair, she was also forced itno wearing long skirts, as pants may entice those of the opposing sex. If only it were the opposite sex that she suffered worry. Shackled from herself within, a person she couldn’t quite come to terms with. Truly she loved her family, which love, did breed her inclination to guilt. Unsure of what was wrong with her, why did she feel in her stomach this rushing warm sensation every time she saw her best friend Lily. Or why she would lay awake each night thinking only of Lily’s smile.
By Derek Smith5 years ago in Families
Flat-Lined
It was early morning when I was abruptly awoken by my dad who pulled me to the car. The rain fell on my face and I was cold to the bone, a feeling which I will never forget. Half-awake, I was buckled in my seat as we drove down route 70. The headlights from the passing cars streamed by going the opposite direction. I was oblivious to what was happening and wasn’t sure if I should even ask where we were going. The expression on my Dad’s face left me silent the whole ride there. We arrived at St. John’s Hospital, a place where my Grandma was kept for observation due to recent heart failure. I would visit her every day but this day felt different. We rushed through the building’s entrance at an urgent pace. I thought to myself that something must have happened. We were directed to the room where my Grandma was kept. I expected to see her perfect smile but all I could hear was the long eerie beep of a flat-lined patient.
By Paul Sharpe5 years ago in Families
Citrus and Skeleton Keys
“Damn shame. They were so young,” Aunt Clara frowned, clearing a plastic covering from the dining set before sitting down, “everything you will need is here. I know it’s dusty, but we’ve done our best to keep the house ready for you. Uncle Art will be over in the morning to get the car ready, and to help with any mechanical repairs needed for the car or the appliances.” She opened her purse and pulled out a packet, motioning for me to come sit at the table. “This pouch has the deed, titles, copies of their wills, death certificates, and all the court documents that transfer their estate to you; all this is yours, now that you’re eighteen. Keep it in a safe place.” She reached into her purse, retrieving a second packet, and as soon as she handed it to me, I dumped it out onto the table before me. Keys, a locket, a wallet, a small purse, a pocket knife, a watch, and 3 golden rings tied together with a ribbon tumbled out. “Oh Rommie, I never saw your mother without that locket on,” She picked up the locket and opened it, exposing a picture of me as a toddling on one side, an etching of a constellation on the other. “I remember the day you came to me, those tiny ringlets, your chubby cheeks, you were just so adorable! Now look at you, all grown up. Rommie, are you sure you don’t want me to take the day off to help? All this has got to be so overwhelming, there’s just so much to be done here,” she paused as I held up my hand.
By Kasey Kennedy5 years ago in Families
Dear John
Grandpa sat in the brown chair as he usually did, jotting down random things in the little black book he always carried around. I asked him once why he never seemed to be without it, he just gave me a grunt and mentioned something about thanking him one day.
By Genevieve Alvarez5 years ago in Families
Lubeck
Gertie felt at home as soon as she stepped off the plane, taking in a huge gulp of crisp, northern air. Despite never having visited her parent’s hometown of Lubeck, she felt as if she were returning somewhere warm and familiar, like putting on a cozy sweater. It was strange – to feel as though you inherently belong somewhere you’ve never actually been. “Must just be the stories...” she thought to herself. Gertie clutched her father’s black notebook to her hip as she walked off the tarmac.
By Paige Klaver5 years ago in Families
