First Place -- Short Fiction
Sunday, July 05 2009 @ 12:00 AM MST
Views: 353
Views: 353
INDEPENDENCE DAY CONTEST -- SHORT FICTION
FIRST PLACE: "Happy Independence Day, Brother" by Heather Gregson
Our judges loved how the author used the theme to come up with a very moving story. We know you will, too. Editors
Robert woke up before the alarm rang. He climbed out of bed, showered, dressed and ate a light breakfast. He was a little nervous. Well, not really nervous, but not really excited either. He couldn’t put into words what he was feeling. It seemed like this day had taken a lifetime to come. Robert has been looking forward to this Independence Day more than any other.
He patted the envelope tucked in his shirt pocket for the tenth time. The envelope contained a letter, photographs and medals for his brother Billy. The letter said things that Robert had wanted to say over the years but couldn’t. The photographs were the memories of their childhood. There were pictures of Robert and Billy as newborns coming home from the hospital. Pictures of each boy’s first day of school and of the time the family went to New York for the Macy’s ®Thanksgiving Parade. Some were of Christmas and other of Easter egg hunts. The medals were the ones Robert won in the war. When he pulled two fellow soldiers out of the burning wreckage of the building they been trapped in when a bomb hit it.
Robert left his hotel room and headed out into the bright morning sun. He debated hailing a cab, but decided to walk. He wanted everything about this day to last a long while. As he walked down the bustling street, Robert thought how he believed this day would never come.
He had worked all his life and always provided for his family, but a trip of this magnitude was always out of their reach. He had almost fallen out of his chair when he opened his birthday gift from his beloved wife Margaret. Inside the box was one airplane ticket and a confirmation of hotel reservations. She hadn’t been meeting with the girls all those years at Bingo. Instead, Margaret had gone each Tuesday night to a diner and nursed a cup of coffee, stashing her Bingo money in a secret bank account just for this gift. There was only enough money for one airplane ticket, but Robert needed this trip and Margaret was happy to be able to send him.
Independence Day had always been Robert’s favorite holiday. Sure, Christmas was great. There were presents on Christmas, but there was also the seemingly endless string of obligatory family visits to relatives Robert only saw on Christmas. Fancy foods he couldn’t identify and really didn’t like. Then there was the worst part of Christmas, being forced to wear those embarrassingly awful holiday sweaters his mother adored.
Independence Day was filled with warm summer breezes and blazing sunshine. Robert and Billy would join the other neighborhood boys in a marathon baseball game. Then they would all cool down by swimming in the brook. Dinner was a barbecue at the park with hot dogs, potato salad, fruit punch, watermelon and cupcakes. Their mom always frosted the cupcakes with red, white and blue icing. Then there were the fireworks. The family would stretch out on the blanket and watch the multi-colored display, arc and dance across the sky. Their ears would ring for days afterward from the deafening booms and bangs.
How many years had it been since Robert and Billy had stretched out on that blanket? Robert knew exactly when the last time they had done those things. It had been when he was 19 and Billy was 17. Robert was working as an auto mechanic and Billy had graduated high school that June and was working at the local butcher shop. Now all these years later Robert would be with Billy on Independence Day.
Robert arrived at the boat launch and found a small crowd of Veterans already gathered. He listened to the conversations of the other Veterans. Each told a similar tale about that December morning, each memory as fresh as the day it happened.
He climbed into the launch with the other Veterans and the launch made its way to the remains of the USS Arizona and the pristine white memorial that rose above it. Robert looked down at the fragile remains of the once great ship and his heart broke. Here, his Billy had died on that unimaginable December morning. Here, his Billy had refused to abandon ship, instead helping several of his fellow sailors to escape the burning inferno. Billy could have escaped with the other sailors but he ran back into the bowels of the doomed ship to try to save those still trapped in the twisted steel hull.
Robert took the letter from his pocket and read it one last time. As he looked at each picture, the images came alive in front of him. He placed all but one of the medals in the envelope and sealed it. One medal he clutched tight to his heart. The Medal of Honor that Billy had been posthumously awarded for his brave actions that day. This medal, Robert would keep.
“Happy Independence Day, little brother,” Robert said, reaching over the side of the launch and letting the letter go. Slowly it spiraled down to the waiting remains of the Arizona and disappeared.
“Happy Independence Day, brother,” a fellow Veteran said, placing his hand on Robert’s shoulder.
Robert looked out of the crystalline blue water and felt a peace come over him that he hadn’t known for over 68 years.
FIRST PLACE: "Happy Independence Day, Brother" by Heather Gregson
Our judges loved how the author used the theme to come up with a very moving story. We know you will, too. Editors
Robert woke up before the alarm rang. He climbed out of bed, showered, dressed and ate a light breakfast. He was a little nervous. Well, not really nervous, but not really excited either. He couldn’t put into words what he was feeling. It seemed like this day had taken a lifetime to come. Robert has been looking forward to this Independence Day more than any other.
He patted the envelope tucked in his shirt pocket for the tenth time. The envelope contained a letter, photographs and medals for his brother Billy. The letter said things that Robert had wanted to say over the years but couldn’t. The photographs were the memories of their childhood. There were pictures of Robert and Billy as newborns coming home from the hospital. Pictures of each boy’s first day of school and of the time the family went to New York for the Macy’s ®Thanksgiving Parade. Some were of Christmas and other of Easter egg hunts. The medals were the ones Robert won in the war. When he pulled two fellow soldiers out of the burning wreckage of the building they been trapped in when a bomb hit it.
Robert left his hotel room and headed out into the bright morning sun. He debated hailing a cab, but decided to walk. He wanted everything about this day to last a long while. As he walked down the bustling street, Robert thought how he believed this day would never come.
He had worked all his life and always provided for his family, but a trip of this magnitude was always out of their reach. He had almost fallen out of his chair when he opened his birthday gift from his beloved wife Margaret. Inside the box was one airplane ticket and a confirmation of hotel reservations. She hadn’t been meeting with the girls all those years at Bingo. Instead, Margaret had gone each Tuesday night to a diner and nursed a cup of coffee, stashing her Bingo money in a secret bank account just for this gift. There was only enough money for one airplane ticket, but Robert needed this trip and Margaret was happy to be able to send him.
Independence Day had always been Robert’s favorite holiday. Sure, Christmas was great. There were presents on Christmas, but there was also the seemingly endless string of obligatory family visits to relatives Robert only saw on Christmas. Fancy foods he couldn’t identify and really didn’t like. Then there was the worst part of Christmas, being forced to wear those embarrassingly awful holiday sweaters his mother adored.
Independence Day was filled with warm summer breezes and blazing sunshine. Robert and Billy would join the other neighborhood boys in a marathon baseball game. Then they would all cool down by swimming in the brook. Dinner was a barbecue at the park with hot dogs, potato salad, fruit punch, watermelon and cupcakes. Their mom always frosted the cupcakes with red, white and blue icing. Then there were the fireworks. The family would stretch out on the blanket and watch the multi-colored display, arc and dance across the sky. Their ears would ring for days afterward from the deafening booms and bangs.
How many years had it been since Robert and Billy had stretched out on that blanket? Robert knew exactly when the last time they had done those things. It had been when he was 19 and Billy was 17. Robert was working as an auto mechanic and Billy had graduated high school that June and was working at the local butcher shop. Now all these years later Robert would be with Billy on Independence Day.
Robert arrived at the boat launch and found a small crowd of Veterans already gathered. He listened to the conversations of the other Veterans. Each told a similar tale about that December morning, each memory as fresh as the day it happened.
He climbed into the launch with the other Veterans and the launch made its way to the remains of the USS Arizona and the pristine white memorial that rose above it. Robert looked down at the fragile remains of the once great ship and his heart broke. Here, his Billy had died on that unimaginable December morning. Here, his Billy had refused to abandon ship, instead helping several of his fellow sailors to escape the burning inferno. Billy could have escaped with the other sailors but he ran back into the bowels of the doomed ship to try to save those still trapped in the twisted steel hull.
Robert took the letter from his pocket and read it one last time. As he looked at each picture, the images came alive in front of him. He placed all but one of the medals in the envelope and sealed it. One medal he clutched tight to his heart. The Medal of Honor that Billy had been posthumously awarded for his brave actions that day. This medal, Robert would keep.
“Happy Independence Day, little brother,” Robert said, reaching over the side of the launch and letting the letter go. Slowly it spiraled down to the waiting remains of the Arizona and disappeared.
“Happy Independence Day, brother,” a fellow Veteran said, placing his hand on Robert’s shoulder.
Robert looked out of the crystalline blue water and felt a peace come over him that he hadn’t known for over 68 years.