Great Family

It's Our Only Option

Since then we haven’t barely spoken to each other. William and I can’t seem to find work anymore and gave up trying to. We even tried making work. But Mother hasn’t been feeling well. Nothing too bad. Just a headache. Father is unemployed so we can’t afford a doctor. A few more days of this went by. Mother was feeling well enough to go outside and sit on a small wooden bench I made for her, but she fell asleep quickly. “William?” I looked slightly up at him. “Yes?” He looked at me jet lagged and hungry. I pulled two loaves of bread from my pocket. I looked at him with sad joy. “Happy 17th birthday. I saved my lunch for you.” He looked at me and smiled. He hugged me tightly and walked past me. A slice went into his pocket and he got a small glass of water. He wrapped the slice of bread in a rag and picked up the water while walking outside to where Mother was half asleep. Following him, I realized what he was doing, and stopped in the doorway.

He tapped mother on the shoulder and she jumped, then smiled. Her mouth moved, but no real words came out. He handed her the cup and helped her drink it; then he unwrapped the bread and kneeled there next to her as she shakenly ate it. When she was done he helped her up and into the house. I moved out of their way and followed them into her bedroom. I got her a wet rag and a cold bowl of water. William put the bowl next to her on the small handmade side table and the rag on her forehead. We both kissed her cheek and walked out. We walked outside and on the dirt road of our run-down small town. “James, this is getting too bad. All we are doing is wasting food and money. Father is still job hunting to support all of us, when he should be with Mother.” It hurts, but it's true. “What should we do?” He looked at me, and I looked at him, and he looked at me with wide eyes. “William! Are you crazy?! What will we do, where will we go?” He looked at the ground and kicked dust in confusion and frustration. “I don’t know! This is the first time I’ve ever actually said it. But I don’t know.” William is the smartest person I ever known, so to hear that he doesn’t know, scares me. “Well, right now I fear knowledge more than anything else.” He looked at me and knew I was right. He ran up to the closest house and asked to borrow a pencil and small sheet of paper. The older couple let us in and gave up the paper and a small space to sit and write. We said “thank you” and I started writing. I spent at least twenty minutes with William in that room, just writing in silence. After we were done we said thanks many more times, and left. We went home and made mother and father a small but nice dinner. “Boys, there's only two plates set, aren't you eating?” Father didn’t even seem mad, infact, he didn’t seem fazed at all. “No, we went on a walk and found some wild berries, the food is for you and mother. Enjoy.” And with that we started to walk away. Mother started mumbling and everyone went silent. “What is it dear, speak up now. Are you okay?” Mother coughed and spoke, “h..h…happy day William.” She muttered. He smiled at her, turned around and kissed her cheek, then he hugged father and came back to my side.

We went into our room and searched through some books that didn’t sell yet. William closed the door and we sat on my bed. “I found one” he whispered as he held a map in front of my face. I took a pen and held it while William lit a candle, then circled our home, and put X’s in every state with family or old family friends. William took the map, ripped it out of the book, and put the paper in his pocket. We decided to take turns resting so we wouldn’t sleep the night away and mess up the plan. I fell asleep first and William packed a bag. Mother had to resew many times and when he was done he woke me up and I did the same thing while he slept. When I finished I woke him up and we left the note on the kitchen table. We looked at each other, and walked out of the door, down the road, and out of town.