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Author's Chapter Notes:

This chap is crazy short. I'm hoping to have the next one up very soon though.

I found myself inspired by this 1957 educational film that I thought could have been a movie...if you've got thirty minutes, it's very cute: How Far Is Too Far?


Though the drive home was only a mile long, he took several side streets, driving slowly. He inhaled her sweet scent, which still mingled with the new leather. When he reached the small, white, split-level house, he sat in the driveway collecting himself from the encounter with Pam.

When he reluctantly entered the house, he hung up his coat and hat in the front closet, announcing, "I'm home."

Her reply came from the sitting room. "Robert?"

He stepped into the room. "No, momma, it's Jimmy."


"Oh, hello, dear," she smiled. Even after all this time the disappointment in her voice still stung.

"What did you do today?" he asked her.

She was sitting in the burgundy armchair, blanket on her lap. Her sad eyes were staring at the television, which wasn't turned on. "I wanted to make you a cake, but I couldn't remember how."

"That's alright," he reassured her, "I'll make us dinner. Would you like to listen to the radio?"

She nodded, closing her eyes.

He watched her a moment, but the pain of seeing the shell of a woman she had become was too hard to dwell on.

He flipped on the radio and went to the freezer for two T.V. dinners. He was beginning to really hate T.V. dinners; he missed his mother's cooking. He missed his mother.

 

He turned on the oven. As he waited for it to heat up, his thoughts drifted again to Pam. He'd only known her a week, but he couldn't get her off of his mind. He found out she was engaged to a coal miner. For some reason this fact didn't deter him at all.

 

He pulled the foil back carefully. The corn was still stuck in a clump. He wondered if Pam could cook. He wondered what Pam would think of his family. He hadn't brought a girl home in more than a year, he was afraid of what they might say. He knew that Pam would smile and enjoy the repetitive conversation with his mother. For a moment, he thought he might ask Pam to dinner on Monday.

 

He sat the tray in her lap, she smiled. They ate quietly, the radio softly playing.

She looked up at the clock, "I guess your father is working late tonight."

His heart broke a little more. "I guess so."


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