Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Gone Fishing (02/01/07)
-
TITLE: ROLIE POLIE OLIE | Previous Challenge Entry
By Kathleen Morris
02/02/07 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
The kids were fighting, his wife was reading her book as usual, and he should be at work right now, not lollygagging all day with his family. He still had to check over all the invoices piled on his desk, and they weren’t going to get done themselves.
“I said STOP IT Josh! Now get in the truck with your brother and I don’t want to hear a peep out of you until we get to the lake. Capeesh?”
“But Daddy, James is bugging me.”
Jack rolled his eyes, lifting his son into his car seat next to his twin brother. They were a handful all right. The moment he and Marsha found out they were having twins, he started having trouble with his blood pressure.
The doctor told him it was the extra 50 pounds he was carrying around with him, but he knew it was because of the boys. It was always because of the boys. He was tired…. because of the boys. He was angry…because of the boys. He was miserable…because of the boys.
And Marsha, as much as he loved her, was not much help at all. She just seemed to retreat into her books whenever they acted up. Her behaviour was so predictable that he didn’t even bother asking her to step in anymore. He knew she’d just say, “Don’t look at me dear, they’re YOUR boys.”
That’s exactly why he spent so much time at the office. It was easier NOT dealing with them, and that included his indifferent wife.
By the time they got to the lake, loaded into the rental boat, and started trolling, Jack was exhausted, wishing he hadn’t put on so much weight. His end of the boat sunk deeply into the water.
“There’s fishys!” Josh giggled as he leaned over, touching the water, calling his twin over to see.
Together the two of them rocked the already unstable boat, teetering the vessel from side to side.
“Stop it, both of you!”
Marsha looked up from her book and glared without saying a word.
Jack frowned. “If you two don’t stop fooling around, I swear I’m going to…”
Then Josh started to cry. “Daddy’s mean!” he sobbed reaching for his mother who just coddled him and shushed him.
Escape, that’s all Jack wanted to do. That, and pretend he didn’t have two spoiled brats.
If only he was single again, free from responsibility, free from the pressures of life, and free from his irritating family. Ah yes, life would be grand.
He thought about that for a moment, resting his back against the motor, basking in the warm rays of the afternoon sun. It was a pleasant daydream, a daydream interrupted by a squeal.
“Daddy Daddy!” one of his sons cried.
Immediately, Marsha dropped her book, thrust herself to the side of the boat and wailed. “Do something Jack!”
Within seconds, Jack reached over the side and grabbed the little boy’s lifejacket, pulling him to safety.
“James, James, James! Don’t ever scare Daddy like that again!”
“How did you fall into the water sweetie?” Marsha asked.
Like a wet little rat, hair dripping and teeth chattering, he smiled at his twin brother. “We were just playing Rolie Polie Olie.”
Jack’s heart almost burst. He could have lost his son. He could have lost them both. He smiled at his family then…at his lovely wife and her silly books, at his twins and their mischievous faces…and loved them, just loved them.
“I will never take my family for granted again Lord!”
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.