Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Proverbs 1:8 (06/01/23)
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TITLE: Regret | Previous Challenge Entry
By Stephen Kimball
06/08/23 -
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It’s been five years, but seems like a lifetime ago, his sweet wife, Leigh Anne had passed away leaving him to finish raising the boys, Eddy Jr. and Marty, who is in his first year of college at Georgia Tech.
He raised his chin and grinned, checking his teeth for evidence of the burger he downed on the way. He couldn’t help but notice, again, the slight yellow tinge that covered them. He had been intending to get one of those teeth whiteners, the do-it-yourself kind, but had yet to find the time or the motivation.
He ran his fingers through his hair, using the beads of sweat on his forehead to slick back what was left of his silvering locks. He let out a heavy sigh, a sigh of weariness laced with resignation.
“Let’s get this done”, he encouraged himself aloud, as he rolled up the windows and locked the doors as he had been instructed to do. He secured his cell phone in the glove compartment, taking with him only his keys, his driver's license, and a picture of Eddy. Checking his pockets one last time, he glances at the photo and thinks of his wife, his family, that had at one time filled him with such joy and satisfaction and he wondered, in vain, how in the world they had arrived here.
He had taken the day off of work, choosing this day and this time because he figured it would be less crowded, less time waiting out in the Georgia summer heat. With every step he took, the sweltering air seemed to be sucking the life out of him. He was relieved to see, as he approached the check-in station, there was indeed no line at all outside and there was direct admittance into the visitor’s area where he could get some relief and prepare himself to speak with his son.
He'd been thinking of what to say, worrying about it, since he made up his mind to come — part of what’s been keeping him up at night. There’s nothing new to say… it’s all been said before. The right way to live…How much God loves him. It’s been like talking to a wall ever since Leigh Anne died.
It’s time. Eddy is directed to a small room with a singular chair and a phone mounted to the wall, a glass partition separates this side from that, the outside from the inside. He watches as Eddy Jr. is led in by an armed prison guard, to the other side of the stark, otherwise empty room. He wears the bright orange jumpsuit, just like he’d seen in the movies. The guard unshackles him and he sits, staring at the floor. Eddy’s heart had long ago broken, but there is still a deep love, still a desire for closeness and forgiveness and reconciliation. At least he hopes that’s true.
He picks up the phone…and waits.
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