Good morning and Happy Hump Day! If it's Wednesday, then it must be time for more flash fiction from the Wednesday Briefers! We're a group of authors who bring you our finest flash fiction every week, 500 to 1000 words, inspired by one of our prompts.
Everyone at the Thorne residence sits down to a delicious home-cooked meal from Ethan's mother. Vinnie is most appreciative, but he wonders if Joe Jr. can be civil long enough to eat. See what's going on in this week's chapter of Bad Karma and the Family Plan. Don't forget to see what the other Briefers are up to! Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!
Dinner
was absolutely wonderful! I hadn’t really had a chance to appreciate Maureen’s
cooking in its full splendor before since she’d been recovering from a stroke
during our first visit. And how she managed to stretch this most excellent meal
to accommodate all her extra guests was beyond me but she did and her efforts
were most definitely appreciated. I could only imagine what Thanksgivings must
be like here, at least from a culinary standpoint. Ethan and I tended to eat
out on holidays, for the most part. I know he was as happy as I was at our
unexpected largesse.
Of
course, the fly in the ointment as far as holidays went, was Ethan’s older
brother. He sat through the meal like the proverbial bump on a log and only
spoke when he was directly addressed…which meant not very often.
On the
other hand, the minister was on his best behavior and very charming. I think
I’ve mentioned before that he could be very charismatic when he chose to be. He
even engaged Benny in a lively conversation, something having to do with
sports, I think. Maureen seemed to be glowing. She sat on the other side of
little Alex and kept an eye on him so Sarah could eat too. She asked us to tell
some of our more interesting work stories. I couldn’t help but notice Joey roll
his eyes at this, but he wisely kept his mouth shut as Ethan and I obliged with
a few behind the scenes tales. I should have guessed what Sarah really had in
mind when she steered the conversation around to a certain Civil War film that had
been partially shot in Roanoke, to my chagrin.
She was
interested in Troy McGarrett, of course. But seriously, who wasn’t?
“You
actually know Troy McGarrett?” Maureen too seemed impressed with our
familiarity with the actor.
“Not
just know him, he’s a friend of theirs,” Sarah interjected. Joseph Sr. seemed
somewhat impressed at this fact, while Joey turned just a little greener.
I
suspect his overwhelming envy may have caused a malfunction in his thought
process, though, as he blurted out, “So, I guess that makes him a fa—” He shut
his mouth abruptly, without finishing his sentence, but the damage had been
done. I started to rise, flooded with disbelief at what had almost escaped him,
which were obviously his true feelings, but was anybody actually surprised. At
the same time, Ethan, Sarah, and Benny were rising to their feet, and Maureen was
clearly distressed. But Reverend Thorne’s next words froze us all where we
stood.
“Joseph,
you will never use that language in this house ever again,” the minister said
in a deceptively calm voice, not his thundering-from-the-pulpit tones at
all. “You will apologize to everyone
here immediately. And if you can’t be civil, you can excuse yourself.”
For just
a moment, I remembered that it wasn’t so long ago when Ethan’s father would
have joined in on that particularly abhorrent chorus. How times had changed. I
was glad he was coming around, and I let the thought slide in a bid to let
sleeping dogs lie.
The look
that Joey shot his father seemed filled with a sullen disbelief. Like a dog
that’s been praised for some behavior before and now finds itself smacked with
a newspaper for the same behavior.
Get a clue, Joey. That prejudice
won’t fly anymore.
Then he
turned his attention to Ethan, and I was momentarily stunned by the hatred I
saw in that glance. I knew Joey knew better than to attack Ethan. I would take
him down again without a moment’s hesitation. But I wasn’t sure if he was
actually in his right mind just then, and I tensed my muscles, just in case.
But the
moment passed. Joey mumbled something that might vaguely have passed as an
apology, grabbed his plate and exited the house before anyone could respond. A
collective sigh of relief could be felt around the table. We all resumed our
seats and the dining recommenced. Still, I was left with an uneasy feeling
about Ethan’s brother. Did we need to worry about him too, on top of everything
else?
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