Thursday, December 26, 2013

Day 360 - Pawn Story

Pawn Story
Matthew Ryan Fischer

Wyatt had seen the name “Alex” appear on the phone ID. He didn’t answer it. He was in no mood for his family. He checked the message later when he had more time and felt like dealing with her rambling ways. Normally Alex talked and talked and talked, but didn’t really end up saying much of anything at all. Wyatt usually found talking to her to be annoying, despite any love he might actually feel for his kid sister. She was chipper and bouncy with a positive outlook towards everyone and life in general. She was the opposite of Wyatt. He was sour and pessimistic and quiet and only saw the bad in the world. He loved her, but he couldn’t always stand her. He needed to work up the energy to deal with her. It was just so much hard work sometimes, and he just didn’t have the energy right away in that moment.
When he finally heard the sound of her voice in the message, he instantly regretted not picking up earlier. She was shaky, and instantly scared him. “It’s me… Alex…” she began. There was a long pause and he could hear the sound of her sniffling. “Wyatt, it’s… It’s dad. Come quick.”
Wyatt looked at the phone. For a moment it was too much to consider and he wasn’t able to process it all. Wyatt’s father hadn’t always been a very good father and Wyatt had done more than his fair share in helping to raise Alex, but his father was still his father and Alex was still his baby sister. He wanted to save her from whatever she needed saving from. He wanted to love his father and hate his father and have his father be gone, but also have his father be alive and well. There were too many conflicting emotions and too many conflicting outcomes. He needed to call Alex. He needed to call all his sisters.
Instead he just looked at the phone and thought about the irreversibility of the past.


Lou was an old friend. He had known Wyatt since Wyatt was a teenager and would visit Lou’s pawn shop. Wyatt was fascinated by the many strange and mysterious items it held. He used to go into the shop when he should have been in school and would try his hand at stealing things. That trick never worked. Lou always knew. Wyatt would swear he was the only one in the aisle or that Lou was in the backroom, but he always knew and would appear just as Wyatt was about to pocket something. Lou seemed to have a second sight sort of ability with those things. Or maybe he just knew how teenagers thought and what they were up to. Lou was good at stopping Wyatt from getting into trouble and he never made things worse by calling the cops. Lou liked Wyatt. Even if Wyatt wasn’t a great kid, he was a good kid, and he had a certain charm about him. He was arrogant and a know-it-all but showed a curiosity for learning and was especially interested in the history of items. Lou liked that. He liked his shop and he liked his possessions and he liked to talk about them. As long as he could tell Wyatt all about them, he would help keep Wyatt out of trouble.
When Wyatt’s father disappeared the first time, Lou helped out and paid some bills and eventually gave Wyatt some part-time work at the shop. He never let Wyatt quit school though. Wyatt had to help raise his sisters and Lou decided to help raise Wyatt. Wyatt never understood what exactly Lou saw in him at that early of an age, but he was always glad that Lou decided to invest in him. He owed Lou a lot. He would feel indebted to Lou for the rest of his life. Lou wasn’t his father, but he sure was a good man to have around.


Lou didn’t mind helping Wyatt clean out his father’s house. The responsibility fell to Wyatt or maybe he just claimed it before his sisters could make up their mind what to do. Wyatt just behaved that way – a self-fulfilling prophecy as a martyr and a victim and a willing participant and a control freak. He always wanted the responsibility, even if he wanted to reserve the right to bitch about it.
Wyatt gave it all away; Lou could have anything he wanted.
“You’re gonna want something, right? Something to remember your old man by?”
Wyatt shook his head no. “If you don’t want it, I might burn it to the ground.”
“You don’t know, kid. You might be pissed at the man right now, but you might really miss him someday.”
“Lou, you’re a good friend and a better man, but you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. I’ve been missing my father for twenty years. None of this junk is ever going to fix any of that. You take every little thing you can get any use out of. I’ll find someone to junk the rest. You consider that back pay for all the help you ever gave me.”
“What’s going to happen to the house?”
“Alex is going to take it. She might bounce around a lot, but maybe she’ll finally find a home.”
“And you? Where are you going to go?”
Wyatt looked off into the distance and was quiet while he thought about things. “I don’t know yet. Somewhere. Maybe anywhere.” Wyatt realized he really could go anywhere and do anything now; he was finally free.

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