By Matt Weatherbee
Your son says he tripped and that’s how he broke his phone. You’re not buying it, but you leave it alone.
“Were you ever bullied?” he randomly asks.
“No,” you say. “I was lucky. No one bothered me.”
Which is true. No one bothered you. But that’s because you were the one doing the bothering. You were the bully. You’re not proud of that. You hate yourself for thinking it, but you probably would’ve bullied your son if you’d gone to school together.
“Sorry,” you accidentally say.
“For what?” your son says.
“Nothing. I don’t know. That people can be mean.”
Love it!
What would it have taken, I wonder, to bring realisation sooner?
Good one and I liked the ending.
I really like this one. There is as much said between the sentences as in them!
Good story flow & word choice
Solid content in so few words. Real insight.
I loved this interaction between father and son. In so short of a piece, you tell a moving story.