Short Story Idea
I have this idea.
I wouldn’t say it’s brilliant, but I think it’s worth writing down.
Okay, here’s what I’m thinking:
The story begins with a bitter old man waiting to die. When his daughter, his world, died after a tragic accident—not sure yet, maybe she fell and hit her head or got sick— the responsibility he felt turned into overwhelming grief and he blocked out the world, including his wife. She ends up leaving him to sulk in his isolation.
Decades go by and the old man is living in the same house, still alone. He hears word that a young couple and their daughter have moved in down the road, but he couldn’t care less. One day he sees a little girl, around the age his daughter was when she died, walking up the dirt path on a mindless adventure. She notices him and begins bombarding him with the typical questions children ask. While he’s fascinated with her trusting behavior and advanced vocabulary, he sends her away day after day, preferring his own company. And yet, she comes back every day completely unbothered by his rudeness. Eventually he begins to open up about his daughter that had passed and shares his memories of her.
Her visits continue until she doesn’t show up one day. The old man waits out on his porch with apple cinnamon cookies, which the little girl had seemed so excited to try after he explained that they were his daughter’s favorite. But the sun eventually goes down and he goes to bed, not realizing until then that her visits had become routine and something he looked forward to. Days go by and still no sign of his small companion. He becomes so worried for her safety that he grabs his cane and begins walking down the dirt road in search of her house.
A mile or so down the road he knocks on the house’s door and is welcomed in by a teary-eyed woman and an infant strapped to her chest. The woman explains that a sickness had taken over her daughter and she was now bed-ridden, waiting to die. There’s some dialogue between the old man and the little girl and he ends up returning to the house everyday for a week to keep her company.
When she dies he begins to worry that he’ll return to his bitter state, but instead he realizes that the time he had spend with her—just like the time he had spend with his own daughter— had been worth it.
A few years go by and he’s older, crustier, and knows his time is coming. He sits on his porch for one of the final times and stares out at the dirt road. He sees a small figure appear and rubs his eyes, believing it’s an illusion. But no, the figure is a small child who shares a striking resemblance to the little girl who used to visit him. He learns that is it her younger sister, the baby who he had noticed when he had first visited. He asks the child’s name and she explains that her older sister had named her after the old man’s deceased daughter. Brought to tears, the old man welcomes the child and tells her the story of how he’d met her sister.
The story ends with them talking on the porch over a glass of milk and apple cinnamon cookies.
Pages No One Reads
I haven’t gone to a single grad party this year. What I miss the most is the food.
Pages No One Reads
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