The Phone Call

Ronald held the phone in disbelief, with a feeling somewhere in between joy and confusion.  In a fog, he hangs up and stumbles over to the couch to sit down.

When he was eight years old, his father left their house one morning and never returned. After days of his mother pleading with the authorities for help, there was an existence search launched that didn’t lead to much.  But back then, investigations were handled differently, and lacked the convenience of modern advances.  In the years that followed, Ronald and his siblings grew to accept their new normal.  They rarely spoke of it and never shared his memory with their kids or grandchildren.  And in an instance, all that had been suppressed, resurfaced with a phone call.

“Mr. Parks, this is Detective Green from the Springfield Police Department Cold Case Division, and I wanted to let you know that we’ve located your father’s car.”

© LaRonda Moore

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[153 wds]
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Inspired by FFfAW Challenge #106
Photo courtesy of Tim Livingston, The ForesterArtist.