Life - Message From The Past

1-Pumpkin & The Kids

Pete laughed then corrected Jeremy again. "That was grade twelve. Remember? We drove by David's house and his girlfriend Sandra ran out screaming that he cheated on her." Pete pointed at Jeremy. "Now do you remember?"

"Yeah!" It all came back to him. "You got jiggy with his girlfriend at the bonfire and..." Jeremy smiled. "There's a reason he haunted you the entire year, Pumpkin!"

"Come to think of it, you may be right, Boss." Pete agreed.

The two old friends settled down into their dusty office chairs both shaking their heads. "That was a year to remember, Pumpkin."

"For you maybe!" Pete laughed. "And who says, 'get jiggy' anymore?"

Jeremy frowned before recalling something Pete said earlier. "You're okay with me getting herpes?" He shook his head as he tossed a pencil at his friend.

"You want to get out of this town?" Pete countered tossing the pencil back at Jeremy.

"Yeah well, there are no women left here. The ones on the dating apps don't want to move out of the city until they retire. Go figure!" Jeremy leaned on his desk. "I don't know ~ I guess that's a moot point now if I don't survive the big C."

"You'll beat it, man! It's a done deal. They can cure just about anything nowadays." Pete did something he swore he would never do. "And ~ and I will freely give up this one Saturday to work...for you."

Jeremy jokingly fell off his chair and Pete rushed to him.

"Jeremy!" He looked down at his lifelong friend holding his stomach. "Boss, are you okay?"

"Pumpkin?"

"Yeah." Pete move closer and crouched down with concern for his friend.

"Stop calling me, Boss!" He frowned. "We've been best friends since God knows when. And..."  Jeremy winced.

"And what, Boss. I mean ~ Jeremy." Pete self-corrected.

"And you're standing on my fucking hand, you moron!" Jeremy ripped his hand from beneath Pete's dirty boot.

The Kids

Chastity, Austin & Harmony

Gwen sat in her SUV, staring straight ahead. "Geezus, I can't go out like this. Chast needs me to get through her teen years. Austin doesn't have a father figure in his life. And Harmony can't be a princess the rest of her life! They need me ~ here!"

A text alert sounded bringing her back to reality. She sighed deeply then her eyes flashed open. "The kids!" Gwen feverishly hunted for her cellphone inside her oversized purse she calls a family bag.

Gwen pushed aside the makeup for her and her daughters, the whistle for safety and for refereeing family squabbles in the SUV. Her wallet. A clutch for those late invitations to dinner after work. Sanitary wipes, makeup wipes, facial tissues, and the tickets to the Blue Jays game.

"Gotcha!" She held the cellphone up as if she had won a trophy. Gwen read the text from her eldest child.

Mom, there's spring dance for girls only!!!! Can I?

Gwen responded. Chast, honey...we will C. Okay?

A short time passed before the return text.

I guess. We took a vote. Pizza for dinner will you pick it up?

Sure Chast. Be home about 7.

At that precise moment in time, the diagnosis hit Gwen hard. She clutched her cellphone in her right hand, and the steering wheel in her left hand then broke down. She sobbed as if her heart broke into a million pieces.