the secret of silver lake

Like old times

"Lily, what are you doing? Hurry down." My dad called up as I was headed down the stairs towards the kitchen. I was excited to make breakfast with my dad. It had been a long time since we had done this together.

As I walked through the living room that connected to the kitchen, my dad had begun to gather ingredients from the fridge. "So what you got in mind, old man, We definitely gotta do bacon. I don't care what we do as long as they're bacon." He turned to look at me from the fridge, one eyebrow raised. With arms full of stuff, onion, peppers, eggs, cheese, it looked like he was thinking omelets. "Dad, we are doing omelets. Are you gonna make your famous breakfast biscuits with cheese they're my favorite, " I mock begged him as he turned to smile at me, he was about to say something just as Maggie came through the door probly from doing morning chores. Maggie did most of the extremely early stuff shortly after my dad would join her. Dad and maggie normally were up by 5 a.m., and me on the other hand, would sleep for a bit longer, getting up at 7 am to do my chores. "You two sure up early? Did someone fall out of bed?" she smiled and chuckled to herself, " I am just in time for breakfast." As she pulled out a chair, she looked cross at me. "You forgot the parsley and the sage for those omelets." She smiled and looked upstairs towards the terrarium well sitting down.

" Maybe we haven't gotten that far yet. Come sit down. I'll make you some coffee." Playfully sticking out my tongue at her as i made her coffee, black with two sugar. After handing Maggie her coffee, I began to cut up the vegetables as my dad began cooking the bacon for the omelets. I had almost forgotten the parsley for the fresh hashbrowns with the potatoes from the garden. I quickly ran up the stairs toward my bed room. But instead of turning to the right go left out to the top of the house, we had pulled the wall from two of the bedrooms to connect them. We had enlarged the windows to catch more light and heat. Most of it was done with hydroponics. I grabbed some parsley and then headed back toward the kitchen.

The morning went without a hitch. I enjoyed the memory, just like when I was little. We all sat down and enjoyed a wonderful omelet with crunchy bacon and my dads biscuits on the side. I had pulled out the raspberry jam Meggie, and I had made the winter before it was delicious.

My dad didn't say much while he ate. I kept looking up from my meal to see if he was ready to say something. He seemed to be avoiding eye contact with me.

"Dad?"

The question was clear from the way he looked up at me. His eyes seemed troubled and worried. I glanced over at Maggie to see the same worry in her eyes. He took a drink of coffee before he spoke.

" Your mother should have been the one. To tell you this, not me. Your mother and I talked many times about the right time to tell you. I wish your mother could have seen the way you've grown. The beautiful woman you've become. Before it happened, we had decided on your Thirteenth birthday that your mother would tell you everything. " My dad took a deep shaky breath, drank the remaining coffee in his cup, and continued."After your mother's," his breath caught, and a small sob escaped his throat as he looked at the cup he had clenched with both hands. A single tear hit the table."I,I wanted you to have a normal life if I could give that to you. I didn't want anything to do with the life that.....the pain, losing her was too much. I ran away from all my responsibilities. Take on the pack without her. "

DAD, WAIT, WHAT? what are you talking about a normal life. Quit rambling," his eyes shot up to meet mine, the blue light emanating from them.

"LILLY! Calm down," we both took a deep breath. Maggie, at some point, had grabbed my hand and was squeezing gently.