Writing exercise today. Flash Fiction:
We all seemed to jolt awake at once. It was the sound of breaking glass and the yelling. I found out later it had been my sixth grade school photo she had thrown at him. The metal frame made a deep dent in the hardwood floor and the glass shattered on impact.
There were six of us peering out of two bedrooms, trying to see, but not be seen during the fight. The youngest of us finally came downstairs, and cried, "I'm staying with you, Dad. If you leave, take me with you." We couldn't hear the response, but it stopped the yelling.
They wouldn't speak to each other for the next couple of weeks. She didn't know how to drive and refused to be in the car with him, so when it was time to get Christmas gifts, she somehow found a taxi van to take herself and us six kids to go shopping at the mall in Evergreen Park.
I'm not sure how they made up. It may have been after she vented to the Aunts, or it might have been because it was the holiday season, or because she was catholic and didn't believe in divorce, but one day they were speaking again - even affectionate with each other. The drama was over for a while.
Later we would hear what started it. We found out that he hadn't come home at a reasonable hour and she called a cab and showed up at his favorite bar where she found him talking to another woman. The Greek chorus of Aunts would use the term slut. She must have left us alone late at night to find him there. We were alarmed at what could happen while we slept.
Eventually, they would fix the glass for the frame of my sixth grade school portrait, but the mark on the wood floor would remain.
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