Mac Egan has set the ball rolling with this, the first entry in our Independence Date contest. Remember, you can interpret the word Independence any way you choose, just like Mac did!

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Charlie’s Escape

The glowing green numbers on Charlie’s alarm clock magnified the seriousness of his decision.  Twelve minutes past one.  Charlie had chosen this as the ideal time for an escape because he knew everyone would be sleeping.  He stopped for a moment and listened.  There, from down the hall, the low rumble of his father’s snoring.

Charlie stepped out of his room. Silently but deliberately he made his way up the hall and started across the living room, past the oversized chair where his father would sit after dinner, dozing in and out with the TV on.

“You sure this is what you want to do?”

Charlie froze at the sound of his father’s voice.  He looked in the darkness at the man’s silhouette, down the hallway towards his parent’s bedroom and then back again at his father.

“You forget I’m not the one who snores. Why don’t you sit down?”  The old man turned on the lamp next to his chair.  “Wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

Charlie sat down on the couch and looked at the floor.  He said nothing.

“I assume you have somewhere to stay?” his father asked.

Charlie looked up and muttered, “Umm, yeah.” Charlie’s “somewhere” consisted of his car.

“Can you at least tell me what you hope to find out there?”

Charlie looked back at the floor without speaking. The silence lingered.  Finally, Charlie decided certain things had to be said.

“Independence.”

“I see,” his father commented.  “Are you sure you’re ready for that?  Are you sure you know what ‘independence’ really is?”

Charlie straightened up.  “I’m ready,” he said defiantly.  “And ‘independence’ is doing things on your own.”  He stood up and turned towards the door.

“Is someone coming to pick you up?”

Charlie stopped again, somewhat bewildered.

Charlie’s father continued, “The car that you are thinking of taking – how did you get it?”

Charlie knew better than to answer that question. Charlie’s father made the down payment and paid the insurance as long as Charlie was able to make the installments.  Charlie knew that without his father he would not have a car.

“The independence that you think is out there, doesn’t exist.  For us to have this house I have to follow the bank’s direction and send a payment every month.  We are dependent on my job to keep the bank satisfied.  There are very few things that any of us do ‘on our own.’”

“But I want to decide things for myself.”

“And well you should.  And one day you will.  But there will always be someone else to answer to.  Even at its best, independence is relative.  In fact, independence is at its best when it is relative.”

Charlie’s father reached out and placed the car insurance bill on the coffee table.

“If you really want to do it all on your own, then you have to do it all on your own.”

With that the old man turned and headed down the hallway.

Charlie sat on the couch, thinking.

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A mystery prize is up for grabs. Tell your friends, tell your enemies; tell anyone with an idea and a pen. The details would love to meet you:

www.awordwithyoupress.com/2010/07/04/we-hold-this-contest-to-be-self-evident/