Finding the Grain by Malone Wynn

Author:Malone, Wynn [Malone, Wynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612940465
Publisher: Bywater Books
Published: 2014-02-10T00:00:00+00:00

Part Three

Staying

Spring 2001 – Spring 2004

29

Calling the Prodigal

Rebecca L. Anderson. The name neatly printed on the upper left of the envelope caught my attention first. Beck’s still awesome, I thought as I pulled the stack out of my mailbox. On the back of the purple envelope, she’d written a note. Do you know how hard it is to keep up with you? I smiled and remembered the first time she tracked me down. She had gotten my phone number from Julie and called me on a Sunday afternoon. “You’re an asshole, Blue Riley,” she said as soon as I got out “Hello.” Then she proceeded to give me a thorough tongue-lashing for leaving without saying a word. By the time she was through with me, I had apologized profusely and promised to come to her wedding, so long as I didn’t have to wear a pastel dress.

I leaned against the wall next to the bank of apartment mailboxes to open her card. The Anderson family photograph fell out and landed at my feet. I picked it up. The background this year was a waterfall, I figured maybe Yellowstone. Jacob now stood almost as tall as his dad, and Lowry came up to Beck’s shoulder. Abby wore a ball cap and a ponytail, and looked more like Beck than she had the year before. Jared and Beck looked as fit as ever.

I tucked the rest of my mail under my arm and climbed the stairs to my apartment. Inside, I flipped through the stack of bills and junk mail. Underneath the flap of one of the grocery flyers, I noticed the edge of a letter. I pulled it out and read the return address label. “Oh hell,” I whispered into the empty room. Julie rarely wrote letters, and when she did, she was on a mission.

One hand holding Julie’s letter and the other gripping my lowball glass, I dropped into my recliner. The sting of bourbon seeped down my throat as I unfolded the single page. Julie’s handwriting was as precise as her scalpel.

Dear Blue,

I trust this letter will find you well. As for me, I am the same as when we last spoke.

It recently occurred to me that you are approaching your 41st birthday. By the time you read this letter, it may in fact have arrived. I hope you will have a good day, but more than that, I want to encourage you to take the day as an opportunity to reflect on what you will do with the rest of your life.

Although you have certainly had your adventures over the last twenty years, I continue to find your lack of direction to be troublesome. While I fully acknowledge that it is your life to live, I feel that in many ways I have failed you. Your talents and intelligence are substantial, and perhaps my lack of proper guidance allowed them to go untapped. You are now in what should be the most productive years of your life, and I want you to spend them well.

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