Morning all and happy Monday Morning to you. I hope you had a great weekend. I actually got the first tomato from my tomato plants. I know that sounds strange. Usually they arrive in July and by now are tapering off. They are just now arriving and the first one turned red. I suspect I will either be harvesting tomatoes into October or they will die while the tomatoes are still green. Ah the joys of gardening. But for now, let’s look into the joys of writing prompts. Timers set and off we go.
I don’t know where this story is going. I like the thought of him trying to sort his thoughts out, but I also sort of want something completely unexpected to knock right into him while he is planning things. Not sure what, but something.
Monday, September 16th: He took off running.
He took off running. It was the only thing that helped in times of stress. Now his brain felt so congested with conflicting thoughts that he could almost feel it pulsing and waiting to explode. His feet hit the pavement in a steady rhythm. His heart settled into a pace as well. His breath was coming easy and free. Air went in, air came out. In through the nose, out through the mouth. As he ran, his thoughts began to settle.
It was as though the tightness seeped out of the tangled threads, relaxing them so he could mentally pick each one up without feeling like he was pulling the knots tighter. Stan took a good deep breath and mentally lifted the first strand as he rounded the corner. This was work. His father assumed he would stay and take over the family business.
He had worked in the business since entering highschool and put most of his pay into a college fund. His father told him the only way he could go off to university and study what he was certain would be a pointless degree was if he paid for it himself. Stan saved from his job and took on extra jobs all in an attempt to build up his fund. He had even managed to get two separate scholarships and now could pay for the degree he wanted. He would still work but, he could pay for school.
The problem was that his father didn’t want him to go. Stan left the sidewalk and entered the running trail through the park. The university wasn’t too far away. He could in fact commute. What he would pay for in gas he could make up for by living at home. He was fairly certain he could manage to keep his job in the family business while he was in school as his hours were predominantly night time ones. He knew he could make it work, but it would depend on his father. If his father went along with everything then Stan could stay at home, work in the family business and go to school. If his father planned to be difficult then he could leave and get a job elsewhere closer to school while rooming with friends.
He had been asked if he wanted a place in the house the others were renting. It was something he would need to decide soon. ‘But I need to know how dad will respond.’
That was the trick. He didn’t know. He knew that if it wasn’t something his father wanted then he could become a very difficult man. Was it better to just cut ties and walk away? He knew he had three younger brothers, all who were willing to work in the family business, at least part time while in school. Stan was certain at least one of them, Gary, would want to stay and run the business on a more permanent basis.
Stan knew his father wanted him to do it because he was the eldest. His father felt it was his place. Stan believed his place was elsewhere. His feet hit the ground in a steady rhythm. All would depend on his father. There were other threads, tangled and messy. Most of them had to do with people wanting him to stay and settle here and to do what they thought he should do. He suspected that even staying here while going to school would be a stopgap measure. He might, in the four years it would take him to earn his degree, convince them that they needed to slowly back off.
Then again he might not. He knew Cheryl wanted him to stay. She wanted him to take over his father’s business so he would have a nice steady income and her father would approve of them getting married. He didn’t actually want to marry Cheryl and had in fact been trying to find a way to break things off with her for a while now.
Ten til Midnight 