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Engineered

April 6, 2018 3 Comments

Engineered
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Growing up, the only things Dad loved were beer and his car, certainly not us.

My condition stopped me drinking, making me less than a man to him. To compensate, he pounded cars into me until I bled oil. I learned all he knew about auto repair: changed tires and rebuilt transmissions, while Mom tired of the beatings and left him. Us.

“Brake lines fixed yet?” He had a business trip. Eight hours on I-40.

I palmed the file. “Good to go.”

If I’d filed them right, they’d fail in the mountain passes.

Too late for Mom. Maybe not for me.

By Ian Rennie

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Patricia Penn-Low says

    April 7, 2018 at 8:19 am

    Come uppance good – but so short the outcome was very predictable.

    Reply
  2. susijsmith says

    April 9, 2018 at 7:26 am

    Great story, really enjoyed it.

    Reply
  3. perry mcdaid says

    April 10, 2018 at 2:33 am

    Brilliant story. Pay no heed to the scarcity of positive comments. This is what a story in 101 words should be-back story – emotion – build-up – action and epilogue. Beautifully done in 101 words. Maybe if you’d written it about a cat it would get more reaction.

    Know this – ignore the vapid, yours is a superior story. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

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