Note: Last night was prompt night at the Write-On Writing Group. I used the prompt that my first line had to be "When he died, their father had two requests." This is not a completed work, and I do have hope of expanding it. Where do you think I should go with it?
Earl's Two Requests
When he died, their father had two requests. Making two the
grand total of requests that Earl Little had made to his children in the
entirety of existence. He’d been a solitary man, so quiet that it chased his
first wife out the door of their farmstead after eight years where she did a
lot of yelling and he did a lot of retreating. The divorce was handled civilly
enough, Earl gave her everything she asked for as long as her requests came via
the mail. He didn’t want to hear her voice anymore. It’s little wonder that his
second wife was deaf. She couldn’t hear him, which was good because he didn’t
have anything to say.
Earl fathered one child with each woman. Della was the
product of his first marriage, her features were angular much like her father,
but her personality rotund just like her mother. She was often belligerent toward
authority while going through school and kept her peers at an arm’s length. Della
struggled to trust anyone after her mother died of an embolism when Della was
eighteen. At forty-one, Della lived alone, owning a cat that spent most of its
time hiding under furniture. Her home was above a storefront downtown that she
rented for three-fifty a month, and she made her money as a clerk at the thrift
store at the edge of Jordan.
Earl’s second child was named Marvin, after Earl’s
second-wife’s father. Marvin was raised in a house so quiet that he still felt
driven to apologize for any sound he made, which made his normal stride almost
absurd, as with each step he appeared to turn his jaw over his shoulder to
whisper a quiet missive for the tap of his toes on the earth below. His shyness
was so ingrained that many thought he was dumb, including most of his teachers
in grade school. They were the most surprised when his ACTs came back perfect.
Although it didn’t matter, Marvin didn’t have the courage to apply to schools,
choosing to stock shelves overnight at the Save Mart, a time when the store was
otherwise empty. Unlike Della, Marvin wasn’t alone in life, he still had his
mother, who had also divorced Earl after a time. She might not have been able
to hear, but she had never felt more alone than her twelve years out on that
farm with that silent man.
Earl’s funeral was an unobtrusive affair, a graveside
service consisting of the usual rites said before a crowd of Della and Marvin
and the man that sold Earl Little his crop insurance. When the final words were
spoken, Della whipped a pile of dirt into the hole, mad about something and
just waiting for the appropriate time to yell it at someone. Marvin tried to
ease the dirt from his palm, hoping it would drift down and not disturb the
worms and other crawly things below much less his father’s corpse inside the
casket. After the funeral, Della and
Marvin assumed they would never see each other again.
Except both were approached by the man who sold Earl crop
insurance. His name Jamison Matterhorn, a red-haired man in his seventies. Earl
had been his last living active client, and this funeral meant Jamison could
officially retire with a clean slate and a clear conscience.
“You two,” he waved, as Della and Marvin were already
heading toward different cars parked a few feet away from the gravesite. “I
have something for you.”
“What now?” Della cried. “We paid all the bills already.
Bleeding vultures, pecking at dead folks’ bones for every last cent. I tell
you, Marvin, we’ll both end up in the poor house just cause our pops died.”
Marvin didn’t respond. Della terrified him so much that he
actually worried that the volume of her voice might crack open the fabric of
the atmosphere and send them all spiraling into the vacuum of space. The only reassurance
he got from that was that he knew that sound didn’t travel in outer space, so
at least it would be quiet.
“No, no, nothing like that,” Jamison said. He introduced
himself and how he was connected to their father. Explaining that Earl had
bought crop insurance faithfully for that the last fifty years. He also had
served as a lawyer of sorts for Earl in the last few months, as the sick man (Earl
had had cancer although no one knew, and he never bothered to tell anyone) put
his affairs into order. The one hundred twenty-two acres were to be sold to pay
off the debt incurred from trying to keep such a small farm going. The house
wasn’t much, and likely would be destroyed by whoever bought the land. All Earl
left was two requests.
“See he wants two things from you both,” Jamison said,
taking out an envelope and opening it. He hadn’t read it yet, but had been
instructed to read it aloud to both of them, just to be sure that the note was
heard at least once.
“Jesus,” Della raised her arms to the sky. She didn’t like
what was going to be said even though she hadn’t a clue what it was.
Marvin put his hands in his pockets, nervous for the sake of
being nervous.
“Ok,” Jamison cleared his throat. “First, Earl says he’d
like you to try and forgive him for being such a lousy father. You don’t have
to go all the way through with it, just a try it out, and see if you can
forgive a little at least.”
“Cripes,” Della muttered. Marvin was already feeling sorry
for having been put into a place of having to forgive his father.
“Second, ‘I want you both to try to love someone. Even if it
doesn’t work out. Give it a go. It’s something worth trying at least once.’”
Jamison handed the note Della, his job done and walked off.
