The Call (non-fiction) (READ IT)

[Silverhawk79]

For College Credit English, I had to write a narrative about a major event in our lives, so I wrote this about my dad.

The Call
   The phone rang, startling me out of my reverie. Getting off my bed, I crossed the room to pick up the aging cordless phone and peered at the tiny LCD screen. My dad’s number appeared against the orange backlit screen, so I answered right away.
“Hi!”, I said.
“Hi…”. My dad sounded miserable.
“What…what’s wrong?”, I asked, slightly concerned.
A shaky breath from the other end of the line. “Everything’s gone. She took it all.”
   My mom had divorced my dad nearly 11 years prior, and my dad had remarried and moved away. His new wife, Alice, seemed nice enough. She was a great cook, had a good sense of humor, and never seemed to run out of stories. Surely my dad couldn’t be talking about the same woman, could he?
   Confused, I asked, “Who took what? What‘s going on?”, though I knew the answer deep down inside. Taking a deep breath, my dad shakily answered, “Alice took everything. The furniture, her clothes, the silverware, the plates…everything. She cleared out my bank accounts and checking accounts. I have nothing.” At that, he started to cry. This terrified me more than anything else. My dad had always been strong, independent, unshakable. Now here he was, crying on the phone. This came as such a shock to me that I started getting teary-eyed myself, and it became harder and harder to keep a steady voice. I swore to myself that I would not cry on the phone, but my emotions eventually overtook my willpower. The floodgates finally opened, and I cried alongside my father.
   After getting ourselves slightly more composed, I ventured to ask how it all happened. He told me that he had gotten into a big argument that morning with Alice, and then had gone off to work. When he returned, the house was empty and Alice was gone. He didn’t know what else to do but to call me, and here we were.
   At this point, small talk was impossible, and we were both unsure of what to say next. Being separated by nearly 100 miles of thick black telephone cables made me feel completely helpless, barely able to provide any major support to my own dad. Finally, it became unbearable and all I could say was, “I love you, Dad”, to which he responded “Me too, more than you will ever know.” I hanged up the phone, though my mind was troubled for the next few days, wondering whether he was doing alright, and how he was getting money.
   Finally, after days filled with anxiety and worry, he called again and said he was picking us up for the weekend; with ’us’ referring to me, my brother, and my sister. Having called on a Wednesday, this meant that I had to wait another 3 days to see him, which only served to increase my anticipation and anxiety. Finally, Saturday rolled around, and my dad called to say he would be there around 10:00. 10:00 came…and went. He finally showed up at 10:45 in his big Ford F-150 truck. He was so proud of his truck, having installed dual exhaust in it, making it more powerful and better sounding. He stepped out and walked around to the front door, and I opened the door before he could ring the doorbell or knock, surprising him. He looked genuinely happy to see me, though there was still a trace of sadness trapped in his eyes. I told my brother and sister that he was here, and we grabbed our duffel bags and piled into the blue-gray truck to begin the hour and a half drive to his house in the rural area of Excelsior Springs. The drive was long and mostly silent. The silence was thick and awkward, as we were afraid to broach the subject of the recent happenings, unsure of what his emotional response would be. To cover up the silence, I brought CDs that I thought he would like. We finally arrived at his somewhat secluded house with the 3 acre backyard. He gave us a little apology about the state of things, saying "There's not much left, so you'll have to bear with me." We stepped inside and I was floored. It was as he said, there was almost nothing left. In that moment, I realized how quickly everything can be taken away from you, and how little you appreciate things until they're gone. Confronted with the shock of the emptiness of the house, I fully realized how strong of a person my dad was to be able to carry on after nearly everything was taken from him. After that, I gained a new appreciation for my father, and his unconquerable spirit and determination.



Also I just noticed that this isn't the full story, because I added more to the final draft. I'll try to find the whole thing.

[jnfs2014]

Wow. Touching story.

[Syncopathic]

Damn.
That's really depressing...
How's your dad doing now?

[Silverhawk79]

Damn.
That's really depressing...
How's your dad doing now?

Still hopping from job to job, and he's in Springfield now. He was renting a room from someone in Overland Park, but the chick's jealous boyfriend came over one day and beat the crap out of my dad, so he was forced to move out. He sells medical equipment for commission. He's had a really hard life. :(

[Syncopathic]

Damn.
That's really depressing...
How's your dad doing now?

Still hopping from job to job, and he's in Springfield now. He was renting a room from someone in Overland Park, but the chick's jealous boyfriend came over one day and beat the crap out of my dad, so he was forced to move out. He sells medical equipment for commission. He's had a really hard life. :(

...Jesus, that was a really intercourse ed up thing she did.
How the hell could she do something like that?

[Silverhawk79]

Damn.
That's really depressing...
How's your dad doing now?

Still hopping from job to job, and he's in Springfield now. He was renting a room from someone in Overland Park, but the chick's jealous boyfriend came over one day and beat the crap out of my dad, so he was forced to move out. He sells medical equipment for commission. He's had a really hard life. :(

...Jesus, that was a really intercourse ed up thing she did.
How the hell could she do something like that?

I dunno, she was never really happy, and she always seemed really...unstable. =/