From the Depths

Part 10 - Stop and smell the roses

After a short while of fighting with yourself, you haul yourself out of bed and head back downstairs. Spending the day with your father won't hurt anything, right? Mother and her explanation can wait.

Once downstairs, you see that the back door is open and you hear manly humming from the outdoors. Quickly, you put on your shoes and head out to see what he was up to. A strong, wonderful scent runs up your nose. The small backward is chalk full of all types of flowers. But the blooms, the roses, are the most wonderful.

"What is all of this?" You ask your father in wonder.

"I am just a humble man, with a scent for the extraordinary. Here in this garden I house more of the innocent delicates that can not fend for themselves against the ruthless environment beyond my fence," He speaks as if he is reciting poetry, not answering his child.

You open your mouth to say something, but no sentence seems to want to reply to that awkward response.

"My apologies," Your father admits. "I live alone and work from home, it does things to ones self that you should never have to understand."

"Mother is kind of crazy too," You reply honestly. "She can't keep the same job for long, and is just as nocturnal as a bat."

He chuckles. "Is that so? She wasn't like that when we were dating."

"Mother said she had loved you even before she knew you."

Your father hesitates. "Ay? Is that what she said?" His tone hardens. "That witch only wanted to leave me to rot in a grave."

You're taken aback. "How can you say such a thing!?"

Your father gets to his feet, looking at you with his sad eyes. "She broke my heart, I am just not that strong. I am alone, and it is because of her. We broke up for many reasons, but I will never be able to forgive her for ruining my life."

"Broke up?" You question. "More like diverse?"

"No, there was never a wedding. It was the night I proposed to her that we went too far and you came into our lives. We wanted to wait until after your birth for the wedding but... She kicked me out before the wedding bells could ring."

"That's not true," You argue. "Mother has wedding pictures..."

"Photoshopped, they must be," He figures. "Because neither of us have a wedding ring." And with this, he goes past you to the shed on the side of the house. You return back inside and figure that would be the last thing you spoke of before you were picked up by your mother that evening.

[c]-

Your father comes up mid-afternoon to apologize to you for arguing the way he did. "It was uncalled for, you are just a kid and should not be forced with the weight of the world on your shoulders."

Without other reason, you forgive him and the two of you go downstairs to work together to make an evening meal for yourselves.

"I should invite mother, this will be so much more food than only you and I can eat!" You insist.

With a chuckle, your father hands you the phone so you can call up your mother.

"Hello?" She picks up.

"Hey, mom?" You open. "Would you be interested in coming and eating with father and I before you bring me home tonight?"

Your mother hesitates. It wasn't too out of the ordinary, she had probably just woken up. "I can come over a bit earlier, if that is what you want."

"It is! I'll see you here in an hour?"

"Yes, child. I will be there. Good bye."

"Bye, mom," You end the call with a smile on your face. You could get both of them talking! This plan was going to be perfect.

[c]-

[i]Advance to part 12