Important Decisions

Welcome to The Spot Writers. The prompt for this cycle is to use this prompt: “Halloween with a Twist.” Phil Yeats wrote this story.

 

In April, 2024, he published The Body on Karli’s Beach, the third book in his Barrettsport Mysteries, a series of soft-boiled mysteries set in a fictional South Shore Nova Scotia town. For information about these books, and The Road to Environmental Armageddon, his trilogy about the hazards of ignoring human-induced climate change, visit his website: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/

 

Important Decisions

by Phil Yeats

 

Decades ago, after I arrived to start graduate studies, I fell in love with the architectural absurdity of a house. The rent was more than I could afford, but if I sublet rooms to three or four housemates, I figured I could swing it.

My first year renting rooms out to undergraduates was a bit of a disaster. During my second summer, I changed focus and advertised for housemates in the graduate student centre and professional colleges. The low rent I could charge meant I soon attracted a couple on the long road to medical careers and in September, a young woman, Mary, an English student just starting graduated school.

When Halloween rolled around, the medical students begged off, arguing the overwhelming pressure of their studies. Mary and I were less pressured by our graduate student programs. I was rather into generating a spooky ambience for our yard and I was soon to learn Mary was into costuming. When I came inside, I found her dressed up in an elaborate costume as a character in a fantasy series that was trending with teenagers and young adults. I felt old at 24 when she had to explain it all to me.

She had everything under control until about 6:30 when she rushed into the kitchen, where I was preparing a late dinner for the two of us. She was in tears. “Please, Dan, can you take over for a few minutes? I had a shock and I need a chance to recover.”

I nodded and grabbed my conical wizard’s hat adorned with paper cutouts of alchemist’s symbols and rushed to the front hall to do battle with the ghosts and goblins out trick-or-treating.

 

She returned to the fray half an hour later. She’d touched up her stage makeup and smiled as she greeted the next gaggle of goblins.

I returned to my supper-making and didn’t hear from her again until 8:30, when she arrived in the kitchen and slumped into a chair. “We’re out of treats, so I brought in the pumpkin and turned out the outside lights.” She gazed at the stove. “I’m starving. What have you concocted for supper?”

I passed her a glass of white wine. “Pan-fried haddock with rice and salad. The rice has about ten minutes to go, so time to introduce the fish to the frypan.”

I slid the pieces of fish from a bowl of flour to one with whipped egg to one with spices and breadcrumbs. I checked the oily pan was good and hot and placed the pieces of fish into it. They made a satisfying sizzling sound. Four minutes later, I turned the fish pieces and a few minutes later the rice cooker indicated the rice was done. Perfect timing, I thought, as I returned to the fridge for the salad I’d prepared and wine to top up the glasses. It might almost look like I knew what I was doing.

After dinner and pumpkin pie, store-bought, not homemade for dessert, we were sipping cups of tea when she brought up the subject of her little emotional breakdown. “Sorry about my crying fit, but my daughter appeared on our doorstep along with three of four other trick-or-treaters. I hadn’t seen her for three years, but I know it was her.”

I wanted to ask her questions about how this all came about, but noticed she was almost in tears. I sat patiently, staring at my teacup.

“I’ve thought about her every day, since I left her at an institution for the handicapped.”

“And now, perhaps, it’s time to do something about it?”

“Yes. Perhaps it is.”

 

*****

 

The Spot Writers:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/