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Fat awoke in the wee hours of the morning. He glanced at the next bed and saw his older brother Hub still asleep. He brought his eyes to the clock and saw that it was only five o'clock.
"Max and Mom arent' even up yet." Fat said softly to himself. He closed his eyes and try to get more sleep but he opened them again in an insist.
*Aw damn I hate getting up so early in the morning.* Fat slowly pulled the covers from his body and sat up and blinked the sleepy crude from his eyes.
He stood up straight and tall. He stood at 6'0" in bare feet. He walked to the dresser he shared with Hub and silently opened the drawer and pulled out his clothes that we was going to wear that day.
He quitely put his clothes on and walked to the mirror and picked up his comb. What he saw in the mirror pleased him very much. An tall young seventeen year old male in the prime of life. *As an teenager that is.* Fat grinned at that thought.
He quietly left the bedroom and walked to the flat's front door. He opened it softly and exited the flat into the hall way of the New Bedford Hotel.
He walked to the back door to the stoop and exited the hotel from there. He breathed in the earlier morning air into his lungs.
"A.w. nothing like an gorgeous morning to start the day off right. Not to warm and not to cold. I love the spring." Fat said to himself as he descend the staircase to the sidewalk of the alley.
Fat exited the alley and walked to the left of main street past all the closed and dark business and homes.
He decided while he was getting ready to go out for an earlier morning walk to reflect on the past.
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Hub dreamed about jumping off the bridge and free falling into the icy cold water with his best friend Buck Mayhew right beside him.
He awoke in an cold sweat. He looked over at Fat's bed to make sure that he hadn't awaken his brother. He saw the bed empty. "Fat! Where are you?" The nineteen year old young man asked
in wonderment. *Probably went out for an earlier morning walk. He likes to do that when he awakes in the wee hours in the morning.*
Hub laid his head back down on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. *Why I'm still afraid of jumping off that bridge now as I was when I did it when I was fourteen.*
There was an knock on the door.
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Honey awoke suddenly and knew that one of her children was not their usual selves.
She quietly got out of bed so not to distrurp her husband Max Sutton. She quietly left the room and went to check on Violet and Zack. She saw that they were both sleeping sounding.
*Must be Fat or Hub.* Honey looked through the parlor and at the boy's bedroom. She made her way to it and knocked on the door.
"Come in." Hub said softly.
Honey opened the door and saw Fat's bed empty. "Where's your brother?"
"He got up for one of his early morning walks mom." Hub smiled at his mother.
*It's not Fat. So than it's Hub.* "What's the matter son?" Honey asked as she walked to Hub's bed. She sat down on the edge and looked lovely at her oldest son by Jack Bailey.
"How did you know something is wrong mom?" Hub asked surprised.
"I'm your mother. I always know when something is wrong with you kids." Honey smiled softly.
"Yea I should know that by now." Hub grinned softly back at his beloved mother.
Honey waited for Hub to tell her what was bugging him.
"Mom I have something to tell you. I jumped off the bridge that Dad jumped off when he was fourteen." Hub finally confessed after five years of keeping silent.
"I knew there had to be an reason why you came into the beauty shop all wet. Why didn't you tell me Hub?" Honey said with an slight worried frown on her face.
"I didn't want to worry you anymore than I had mom." Hub sat up and leaned against his backboard. "You know how I was going through that rebellion stage. Well most of it was because I was trying to face up to my fear about jumping the bridge. Well I finally found the courage to do it after I watched over that poor girl's body. When I came back to the flat and saw you looking out the window. When you turned to face me when I came in and you were holding Zack."
Honey nodded remembering well that time.
"I just didn't want to cause you more worry. So when Max said that he was glad that I changed my attitude for the better and that he didn't want to know how. I decided not to say anything. Fat knew and I shocked that he had held his tongue this long." Hub explained.
"Why now?" Honey asked.
"I just had an nightmare about it." Hub said.
"Oh Hub. Darling everything is all right." Honey opened her arms.
"Oh Mom." Hub leaned in and got his loving mother's hug. |
