Sunday, February 10, 2008
Last Goodbyes: A short story
Last Goodbyes
"Colin, I want you to come home for a second", my mom says through my cell phone, "I want you to say goodbye." Its sort of a tradition of mine. You see, I've lived in 8 houses so far, and as long as I can remember, I've walked through each room, saying goodbye to each in turn.
"I'll be right there, mom", I reply, hanging up the phone. I excuse myself from the room, and head about three houses down to my house. That was the beauty of my neighborhood. There were about four kids my age, all within several houses from me. I have never had that since.
As I walk home, I reflect on how this year has gone. It started out slow, in an apartment building. We moved there in August, right before school had started. My family has lived almost everywhere you can think of. I was born in Connecticut, and then moved to Houston, Texas when I was less than a year old. From there, the next stop was Saint Louis, Missouri, when I was about 10. Then, one year later, we hit Fort Collins, Colorado. A typical conversation goes like this:
"So where you from?", they’ll ask. "I was born in Connecticut, Moved to Texas, then Missouri, then Colorado". "Oh, your dad must be in the military". Actually, my dad is a doctor. He did his training and residency and fellowship and stuff. But don’t ask my dad about it. He's pretty touchy about it. I'm not saying he's mean, or that his strict (actually…), just that he's touchy about certain things. Nearing my house, I remember the good and bad. Snow was definitely a plus, and so was the neighborhood. This winter, I had the biggest goddamn surprise of my life. Started out as a normal phony dinner.
"So, Colin, how was your day?"
"Good"
"Anything special happen"
"Nope"
"If you could live anywhere, where would it be?" My mom asked. Now what could she mean by that?
"Florida maybe. New Jersey. New York. I don’t know"
"How about Hawaii?" That took me by surprise. The next few months went by in a blur-School-Sports-Snow-Spring, all of a sudden, here I am, on my last night in Colorado. Tomorrow we are taking a flight, nonstop Continental to Hawaii.
I open the door to my grand house. 3 floors, 5 bedrooms, 4 bath, 4000 sq feet. By tomorrow I'll be in my 2 bed 1 bath apartment, sharing a bedroom with my little brother. Goodbye, foyer. And I systematically move through each room, saying goodbye. Goodbye Bedroom, Bye bathroom, Bye Study, Bye mom's room. As I finish up, I pause for a moment. This will be the last time that I ever set foot in this house.
"Colin, Mason called, he's wondering whats taking so long." I'm sleeping over at my friends house, Mason. My parents will pick me up in the morning, and then its off to the airport. As I leave the house, I turn one last time.
"Goodbye house"
I like the part about your dad. It was very Holden-like. I give you a 24 out of 25. Some parts didn't flow.
"Colin, I want you to come home for a second", my mom says through my cell phone, "I want you to say goodbye." Its sort of a tradition of mine. You see, I've lived in 8 houses so far, and as long as I can remember, I've walked through each room, saying goodbye to each in turn.
"I'll be right there, mom", I reply, hanging up the phone. I excuse myself from the room, and head about three houses down to my house. That was the beauty of my neighborhood. There were about four kids my age, all within several houses from me. I have never had that since.
As I walk home, I reflect on how this year has gone. It started out slow, in an apartment building. We moved there in August, right before school had started. My family has lived almost everywhere you can think of. I was born in Connecticut, and then moved to Houston, Texas when I was less than a year old. From there, the next stop was Saint Louis, Missouri, when I was about 10. Then, one year later, we hit Fort Collins, Colorado. A typical conversation goes like this:
"So where you from?", they’ll ask. "I was born in Connecticut, Moved to Texas, then Missouri, then Colorado". "Oh, your dad must be in the military". Actually, my dad is a doctor. He did his training and residency and fellowship and stuff. But don’t ask my dad about it. He's pretty touchy about it. I'm not saying he's mean, or that his strict (actually…), just that he's touchy about certain things. Nearing my house, I remember the good and bad. Snow was definitely a plus, and so was the neighborhood. This winter, I had the biggest goddamn surprise of my life. Started out as a normal phony dinner.
"So, Colin, how was your day?"
"Good"
"Anything special happen"
"Nope"
"If you could live anywhere, where would it be?" My mom asked. Now what could she mean by that?
"Florida maybe. New Jersey. New York. I don’t know"
"How about Hawaii?" That took me by surprise. The next few months went by in a blur-School-Sports-Snow-Spring, all of a sudden, here I am, on my last night in Colorado. Tomorrow we are taking a flight, nonstop Continental to Hawaii.
I open the door to my grand house. 3 floors, 5 bedrooms, 4 bath, 4000 sq feet. By tomorrow I'll be in my 2 bed 1 bath apartment, sharing a bedroom with my little brother. Goodbye, foyer. And I systematically move through each room, saying goodbye. Goodbye Bedroom, Bye bathroom, Bye Study, Bye mom's room. As I finish up, I pause for a moment. This will be the last time that I ever set foot in this house.
"Colin, Mason called, he's wondering whats taking so long." I'm sleeping over at my friends house, Mason. My parents will pick me up in the morning, and then its off to the airport. As I leave the house, I turn one last time.
"Goodbye house"
I like the part about your dad. It was very Holden-like. I give you a 24 out of 25. Some parts didn't flow.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
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