A Trip To Forget
There once was a boy named Tod. Tod lived with his parents in a run of the mill, two story brick house in the middle of a city. His street was the typical residential city street, not so well traveled as the buisness sector, but not quite as quiet as the suburbs. The houses were close together, but not too close for comfort. Tod loved his home. His parents worked all day, however, they were always home for a nice hot evening meal. They supported their middle class life, and allowed for some luxeries, like admission to a nice school that Tod liked. His life was fairly average. But he loved it.
One mild spring day, Tod came home, like he did every day, to an empty house. His parents would be home about an hour or two after he arrived, so he grabbed some crisps from the pantry and a bottle of soda water from the fridge, and flopped down onto his couch. He turned the radio onto his normal afternoon rubbish talk shows and mindlessly listened to whatever was on. He let all of the stress and worries from the long day at school wash away as his mind was melted by daytime dramas. All of the stress from the daily chore of being a student seemed to have melted away by the time his parents normally were home. The time ticked away, and he remained alone. Tod thought nothing of it though. His parents weren’t late often, but it was always for a good reason. The office had probably held his father late and his mum had probably gotten an emergency kitten to save in the veterinary office.
The clock was approaching supper hour and his parents had still not arrived home. Tod tried not to worry, but his mind had started to imagine the possibilities. To keep himself busy he decided to make supper, unfortunately the only thing he knew how to make was some custard, and how to heat up the fish fingers in the ice box. As Tod sat watching the fingers and making sure he didn’t burn the house down, his mind started imagining scenarios. His scenarios started out simple and rational, such as a kitten ran across the road while his parents were driving home. His mother, being the veterinarian, stopped and took it in her arms. She would see that the kitten was hurt and would insist that the kitten be taken to her office immediately. His father would roll his eyes, but would know that she wouldn’t take no as an answer, so he would drive as she fawned over the kitten. Naturally they wouldn’t think of phoning in a dire situation like this, which would explain the lack of notification. By the time Tod had set the table, made diner, and was seated at the table, his scenarios had taken a turn for the worse. Now his parents were driving through the city, happily singing off key to each other, when a wild motor car swerves in front of theirs. His da swerves to avoid it but rolls the car, takes out a fence, and wraps the car around a tree. Once he had finished dinner and washed the dishes he hadn’t made up his mind between his parents getting into some strange mishap, or jollily striding through the door like normal.
Tod had seated himself at his desk after dinner, attempting to do homework to get his mind off of his parent’s absence. It didn’t work however, as he kept glancing at the phone every thirty seconds. Tod had gotten through two of his algebra problems when the phone rang. Tod picked up the receiver only to hear a strange voice on the end of it.
The voice was gruff and manly, “ ‘Ello. Is dis da residence of the ‘Orshres?”
Tod replied, “Yes, this is Tod Yorkshire. And who is this?”
The voice took a breath in and softened a bit, “ ‘Ello der Tod. I’m Cap’in Burling of Scot’and ‘Ard. ‘M sorry to tell ya dis Tod, but yar parents have gotten inta a bit of an accident. ‘M gonna send a officar over to yer house to keep an eye on ya, awlright?”
Tod went silent for a moment, but regained his voice just enough to reply shakily, “Yes sir, thank you.” The line clicked dead leaving Tod alone with the thought of what his parents could have done.
