“I didn’t understand it at first
either.” He said by way of explanation. I was trying not to cry into my duck
curry. Nights out were a rarity and I didn’t want to ruin it by making a scene
in our favorite Thai restaurant. How he maintained composure telling me what he
told me, I’ll never know. “But all those dreams weren’t of him. They were of
her. In hindsight he was showing me my future.”
I
almost couldn’t grasp what he was saying. It shouldn’t have been that much of a
shock. I’d known about his weird prophetic dreams since the beginning of our
relationship. They stopped being eerie coincidences and had become something
else entirely. And now there was this.
“But
you had me convinced he was going to be fine. You told me those were dreams of
him, that he was going to normal and healthy.”
“At the
time I thought they were. I was so adamant about it. I’m sorry. I didn’t know
what I was being shown. Now I know.”
“You
almost lost me in those days.” I started crying and stopped caring what the
other patrons thought of my little outburst. “You were so….”
“Abrasive,
stubborn?” he tried to interject.
“Militant,”
I said, a little smile escaped my lips. To his credit, he shrugged and smiled.
“I
know. I’m sorry. I just thought I knew what he wanted, or ‘They’ wanted.” He wouldn’t
come right out and say God, or Higher Power. They was always his shorthand.
“And
now?”
“I’ll
never be so brazen as to presume again. We had him and now we have our daughter
and I’m happy. I think that’s what I was being shown. I’m sorry it took this
long to figure it out.”
“You
figured it out. And you have us and that’s really all that matters.” I smiled.
*************************************************
This little story is for the Trifecta Writing Challenge. This week's challenge was Grasp. The above story is 330 words.
8 comments:
Paranormal in a painfully normal setting. I like it.
"He wouldn’t come right out and say God, or Higher Power. They was always his shorthand." Great lines!
Wow, this is interesting. You had me at duck curry. :-) Thanks for linking up this week. Make sure you come back and vote at the end.
Their exchange is one you might hear with a "normal" couple, yet not because of his visions--which means you made an abnormal relatable. It's heartbreakingly intimate. Well done!
One little note--In this sentence, it seems you left out "be" after "going": You told me those were dreams of him, that he was going to normal and healthy.
Interesting how you made this seem so normal, normal setting normal, couple,normal but. I enjoyed this a lot.
I love what you *didn't* say, what you let us figure out. This is brilliant - one of my favorites of yours ever, I think, and you're a pretty damn fine writer.
I really like the "normal" setting in contrast with the not so normal conversation. And the line about trying not to cry in the duck curry was brilliant. Well done!
Thanks Trudging through Fog and everyone else for the lovely comments. I had a hard time with this one actually. Rereading it, I felt it was kind of weak. I think it was because I was too close to the material. Thanks for showing me its value.
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