By Gloria Mazza
“We’re not like other people,” Mother would say whenever I questioned one of the rituals. “Our family honors its own ways.”
I escaped my family decades ago. The intervening years have seen me trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) to be ‘like other people.’ I don’t always know what that means.
A package arrived at my door today. It contained a plastic-wrapped human finger sporting an ornate ring I immediately recognized as my father’s. The accompanying note read, “Billy, it’s time for you to return and be the rightful head of the family.”
Fate had spoken, leaving me little choice but to begin packing.
Ah, those family rituals & honors. I enjoyed & related to “escaping” (ha!) the family decades ago, only to have something–like your clever ending–draw the reader back into the mystery. Nice work, Gloria.
Thanks
I was with you in the first two paragraphs. My mother always said that and I escaped. The same ending hasn’t happened. Yet.
Thanks. Hope you never get the package…
Excellent writing. A lot of family history in 101 words. (And apparently a lot more to come for Billy.)
We shall see – thanks!
A chilling story, very well written. A Winner!