Chapter 5- No Good

the brightest flower deserves a well groomed hand-- not the ravings of a crazyman

The lanky awkward boy walked swiftly, pausing briefly before disappearing down another street. Herb offered his arm to his daughter, who took it and smiled at him as they stepped together towards the parking lot. She often walked with him here. She lived close, and she felt strongly about his sobriety. In her earliest memories, stretches of her father’s sobriety lined up with long walks through their neighborhood, promises that things would change, gentleness.

It wasn’t until she was fairly grown up that he had begun to take it seriously. Only when she was already in middle school did attend meetings regularly. It had been years since he’d had a drink, which Anna appreciated, especially for her younger sister, still at home, too young to remember that it had ever been different. For a lot of it, Sarah hadn’t even been born. She would never know how it felt to lie awake in bed, afraid not of ghosts but of her father’s stumbling gait. To wait for him to come home so she could hide in the closet if she needed to, behind the coats, far enough back that he couldn’t reach her even if he tried. No, Anna hadn’t had to come up with creative nightmares.

As she listened to father telling her about his meeting, his week, his thoughts, she thought about the boy she’d just met. Will. He was strange. His eyes kept moving, never staying on her own. Only when she showed him the song did he relax, and even then, it was odd. He closed his eyes and rocked in place as he listened.

She interrupted her dad, “Hey, who was that guy? Does he go to meetings?”

His eyes were stern as they regarded her. “Yes, he does go to meetings. A lot of meetings. He needs a lot of help, Anna. I don’t want you to hang around him.”