Lose Some, Win Some

"Man, I really like Vegas." - Elvis Presley

Once a year we meet our special group of friends in Las Vegas. While I’m there I make contributions to many one-armed bandits. Just doing my part to keep those bright lights in that city aglow! It’s the least I can do. So while the odds and past experiences tell me I will leave with less money than I start with—also known as losing—I thought I'd share a winning story.

A few weeks ago I learned that my short story, The Communiqué, was selected as the winning entry in the Winter Poetry and Short Story Competition sponsored by The Southwest Florida Women’s Digest. Needless to say, I’m very excited about winning, seeing a story of mine in their great publication, and walking away with a cash prize (which now makes up part of my Nevada investment fund). The story, limited to 500 words, appeared in their 6th Year Anniversary Fall/Winter 2009 Issue. With their permission, I’m reprinting it here. I hope you enjoy it.

The Communiqué

For inspiration John kept a copy of Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls on his desk next to his grandfather’s antique pen set. Though his grandfather had been dead for fifteen years, John still missed the soothing sound of his deep voice. He sighed as he ran his hand down the spine of his grandfather’s favorite book. The rush of memories turned John’s frown into a smile.

“That book isn’t suitable for a young boy,” John’s mother used to say.

“It’s literature,” his grandfather had argued. “It’s suitable for everyone. John’s brain will absorb the sounds of great prose. It’ll help him become an illustrious writer someday.”

His smile disappeared. I must be a big disappointment to you now, Grandpa.

John’s thoughts drifted from his grandfather’s gravelly voice to Sara’s angelic face. Engaged to Sara for three years, John worried she was losing her patience. Since college he’d sold a few short stories and articles but his earnings were meager. They wouldn’t come close to covering the needs of a family. How stupid I was to believe I’d ever be a bestselling author.

With that thought, he forced himself to focus on the application in front of him. I have to do this. It’s the only way.

Becoming an accountant at the firm Sara’s father owned didn’t appeal to him in the slightest; however, eating did. He removed the antique pen from its marble holder and began filling in the tedious blanks.

Halfway through the form, the pen began to leak. The ink spread like an incoming tide; the questions and his responses descended to the murky depths of a great black sea.

Horrified by the sight of the ruined application, he groaned, rubbed his forehead, and closed his eyes. What am I going to tell Sara’s father?

“That is the sadness that comes before the sell-out,” he heard a raspy voice say.

Recognizing the quote from Hemingway’s book, John opened his eyes and looked around. He was alone and yet he felt a presence. I’m imagining things.

“Don’t give up so easily on your dream, my boy.”

“Is that you, Grandpa?” John whispered.

The only reply was the puff of air he felt waft past his ear.

“It is you. I know it is.”

John wadded up the ruined application and tossed it into the trash. He cleaned up the ink and carefully placed the pen back onto the marble stand before turning on his computer.

“Chapter 1,” he typed, “Not one to believe in ghosts, Max first refused to acknowledge…”

His fingers were barely able to keep up with his ideas as his hands flew across the keyboard and words filled the screen. After a few minutes, John paused and read what he had written.

He smiled, glanced upward, and said, “Thanks Grandpa.”
***

Thank you for stopping by.

Tags: Elvis, Las Vegas, Women’s Digest, short story, Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Nevada,

You Are My Sunshine

Today I’m sharing a short story I wrote a month or so ago after one of my trips to Little Rock.

***
Ellen stood in the doorway and although the scene was familiar to her, tears ran down her cheeks. I’ve spent the last twenty-three years as a nurse. It seems like I would have cried myself out by now. She brushed the tears away with the back of her hand. If only someone loved me like that. She pulled a tissue from her pocket and quietly blew her nose.

In the room, an elderly man stood by the bed holding the hand of a woman about his same age as he sang You Are My Sunshine. His voice was raspy but his eyes reflected such pain and honesty that the sentiment was obvious—this woman was his sunshine, she made him happy, and she may never again know how much he loved her.

During the past few weeks, Ellen had many conversations with the old man during which he recounted tales of his younger days spent with the woman lying in bed.

“I’ve known her for over seventy years,” the old man had told Ellen.

Instinctively, Ellen knew that the woman he sang to as he held her hand was the young, flawless girl he’d met so many years ago and that he did not see the wrinkles, the gnarled knuckles, the skin so thin that the slightest touch could cause it to bleed. She was positive that as he gazed down upon his sunshine, the love of his life, his wife, and the mother of his children, he saw the center of his world.

I bet when he looks at the shrunken body curled in the bed, he sees the sexy form of the woman that at one time reenacted the Marilyn Monroe scene—skirt fluttering in the breeze. Or possibly he pictures a young woman waving and smiling at him as she stands on a beach in Hawaii; the fragrant leis around her neck accenting her beauty.

He certainly sees the woman who laughed easily and often at every stage of her life; the woman whose glass was half full, never half empty; the woman who recognized the best in everyone; the woman who stood by his side and always forgave his foolish mistakes.

Ellen tiptoed into the room and the man bowed his head as if in prayer. She could only imagine what he may have asked of his God. Then she heard his whisper, like a soft breeze rustling the leaves of a tree, “Please dear God, don’t take my sunshine away.”
***
His sunshine and my mother, Coleta Weiss Kennedy, passed away on July 9th, 2008.

I’ll miss you Mom.

Thanks for stopping by. See you next week.

Jane Kennedy Sutton
Author of The Ride (to be released by ArcheBooks Publishing)
janekennedysutton@gmail.com
http://janekennedysutton.googlepages.com/
http://www.authorsden.com/janesutton

Tags: The Ride, Archebooks, short story, You Are my Sunshine, Marilyn Monroe, Coleta Kennedy