Entry for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge (max 300 words) |
Buy me some peanuts and Crackerjacks (word count 300) "Oh my God." Josh thought dropping the cell phone to the floor. There were suddenly too many things running around in his head. What to do first? The only thing he knew for sure was that life had changed. He didn't know if he should laugh or cry. There was a growing sense of guilt for not having been there for his wife today. She deserved better. No more putting work first. From now on, his family would take priority over everything else. Suddenly he knew what he needed to do. It had been years since he had been up in the attic. The smell of old abandoned pieces of life reminded him of the many precious life-moments he had missed. No more of that. With his head cresting the opening, he reached up into the darkness and flipped the light switch. Damn, the light bulb must be burnt out. He retreated to the kitchen, returning moments later with a flashlight. Josh let the beam of light sweep the room. A startled mouse stood frozen for a moment, completely taken by surprise. It quickly regained its composure and fled into the darkness. Josh climbed the rest of the way up and walked over to a box marked "miscellaneous." Opening it, he immediately found what he was looking for. Lifting the baseball glove slowly out of the box, he sat back and cried silently for a few moments. His dad had given him this glove on his thirteenth birthday. That had played countless games of catch over the years. Then time and his dad had both passed. For a time, the glove had lost its meaning. His wife's call confirmed what she had guessed. They were going to have a baby boy! Now it was his turn to be the dad. |