Excerpt from ‘The Estranged’

Every day when I walked to school I would spy this old man through the window of his house huntched over a keyboard. Sometimes he would be typing something but usually he was just sitting there. He didn’t appear to be reading anything because, well, in all honesty everyone thought he was blind in his left eye. I guess that doesn’t stop you from reading, but his gaze was that of a man staring into nothingness.

He always had a cup of coffee sitting next to the keyboard as well. At least I thought it was coffee. I later learned that there was probably more whiskey in that cup than coffee.

Once I passed his house, though, he faded from my thoughts because the more pressing matter of Cheryl Cartwright took center stage as the school loomed before me. Like with the old man, I would often walk down the street she lived hoping to spot her through her window. Unlike with him, I would rarely be satisfied.

This went on for nearly the entire year of 8th grade and I never spoke to her. It was during the summer after that year that I finally introduced myself. It was at the public pool and during the peak of my frustrations. My introduction was a bit awkward as I was such a young boy without any clue as to how to proceed. So, as she was standing by the edge of the pool, I got up and shoved her in as I walked by. Needless to say, I made quite an impression.

After a moment of shock she looked up at me and spoke her first words to me. “Idiot!”, she screamed. I stood there dumbfounded and in awe of the sound of her sweet voice screaming “Idiot”. Within moments I returned to reality as she had lunged at me and grabbed my ankle. She was pulling hard and the cement around the pool was slick with water. Losing my balance I fell hard on my ass and she continued to pull, dragging me into the pool. As I slid into the water my head cracked the edge of the pool. The next thing I remember was the lifeguard leaning over me asking if I was okay.

Eighteen years later Cheryl and I were married and now, after 15 years of marriage, she still calls me “Idiot!”