23:40
Faizan
Concluding Short Chapters
Lee's Last Glance
"If he, no they, if they could understand," said Lee, half questioningly, then in thin air waved his hands at nobody in particular, to show how unthinkable that was. "If he could have only understood me," repeated the sixty-seven year old man. His eyes considering his daughter's convictions. "Then we'd be able to come to some agreement on issues, but as it is-" a long pause came, "I must go," he mumbled to himself, "that's the only solution. We must rid ourselves of the idea that this is possible. The fact that I desired it for so long is the origin of all our thoughts, my thoughts, troubles, anyhow... " as if she had not come already to this conclusion, and my boys just the same.
"I wanted to have my daughter but we will be able to go on living, living better in each other's memory, perhaps in some kinder and more honorable way. As it is, we both seem to persecute one another," talking as if she was next to him, saying 'adios' in the only way he knew. Henceforward, the old man was panting with effort to step up and onto the floor of the plane, he paused to catch his breath... A woman took his ticket, as if to confirm he knew where he was going. He nodded his head, and as he searched for his seat, number sixty-seven, he thought about the valley and mountains and the ocean, and no harassment. He was left entirely to himself. In his seat he sat straight back. He was intent on leaving as fast as possible. So he could get back to his writings, and no one would interfere with his progress. Only when the plane was in the air did he turn his head to see his Midwestern hometown completely through the little heavy-duty glass or plastic porthole next to him. And then he rested his neck muscles with a thin pillow on the back of the seat, put in his earplugs, played his cassette player-his mother had given him before she passed on, a decade prior-with the old Rock and Roll music of his day. With his legs now stretched out, they had been getting stiff, Lee shifted his mind to how gracious the Lord was, and how damning the Devil could be.
"Thank heaven, a father doesn't need to be taught how to see through his daughter, his son in law, and his sons." Lee alleged, descending Atlanta's airport, where he'd make his next connection. "I would have loved Jay, had he not turned his back on me!" those words went heckling through his brain. "They were all so innocent, not so long ago, and now all truly devilish human beings." But nonetheless, the day before Lee had left for his birthplace, he had paid the local church to have a mass for Jay, his last gift, to a man he felt was lower than a stoker.
Now sitting there on the outskirts of Atlanta, he got to thinking: 'We strive all or lives to reach some kind of justice, for humanity's sake, we are all given an open door, but often too often, there are obstacles in the way, like door-keepers that don't want you to enter into the halls of justice, to prove you have been treated unjust. And when one grows old, and feeble, and too weak to challenge the door-keeper, he shuts and locks the door... Then it dawns on him: it was never meant for man to get justice here on earth- but try as you may!'
And his last thought before he fell to sleep was: "I can't blame Jay anymore!"
JL 's Confirmation
Lee's Last Glance
"If he, no they, if they could understand," said Lee, half questioningly, then in thin air waved his hands at nobody in particular, to show how unthinkable that was. "If he could have only understood me," repeated the sixty-seven year old man. His eyes considering his daughter's convictions. "Then we'd be able to come to some agreement on issues, but as it is-" a long pause came, "I must go," he mumbled to himself, "that's the only solution. We must rid ourselves of the idea that this is possible. The fact that I desired it for so long is the origin of all our thoughts, my thoughts, troubles, anyhow... " as if she had not come already to this conclusion, and my boys just the same.
"I wanted to have my daughter but we will be able to go on living, living better in each other's memory, perhaps in some kinder and more honorable way. As it is, we both seem to persecute one another," talking as if she was next to him, saying 'adios' in the only way he knew. Henceforward, the old man was panting with effort to step up and onto the floor of the plane, he paused to catch his breath... A woman took his ticket, as if to confirm he knew where he was going. He nodded his head, and as he searched for his seat, number sixty-seven, he thought about the valley and mountains and the ocean, and no harassment. He was left entirely to himself. In his seat he sat straight back. He was intent on leaving as fast as possible. So he could get back to his writings, and no one would interfere with his progress. Only when the plane was in the air did he turn his head to see his Midwestern hometown completely through the little heavy-duty glass or plastic porthole next to him. And then he rested his neck muscles with a thin pillow on the back of the seat, put in his earplugs, played his cassette player-his mother had given him before she passed on, a decade prior-with the old Rock and Roll music of his day. With his legs now stretched out, they had been getting stiff, Lee shifted his mind to how gracious the Lord was, and how damning the Devil could be.
"Thank heaven, a father doesn't need to be taught how to see through his daughter, his son in law, and his sons." Lee alleged, descending Atlanta's airport, where he'd make his next connection. "I would have loved Jay, had he not turned his back on me!" those words went heckling through his brain. "They were all so innocent, not so long ago, and now all truly devilish human beings." But nonetheless, the day before Lee had left for his birthplace, he had paid the local church to have a mass for Jay, his last gift, to a man he felt was lower than a stoker.
Now sitting there on the outskirts of Atlanta, he got to thinking: 'We strive all or lives to reach some kind of justice, for humanity's sake, we are all given an open door, but often too often, there are obstacles in the way, like door-keepers that don't want you to enter into the halls of justice, to prove you have been treated unjust. And when one grows old, and feeble, and too weak to challenge the door-keeper, he shuts and locks the door... Then it dawns on him: it was never meant for man to get justice here on earth- but try as you may!'
And his last thought before he fell to sleep was: "I can't blame Jay anymore!"
JL 's Confirmation
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