Embrace

The clock in the bottom right of Dee’s screen struck 3:53pm, and he sighed with relief. With practiced deftness, he navigated to the work time website, and clocked out. It would push his time to having clocked out at 4 o’clock, but that didn’t free him up to leave just yet. No, Dee knew better. Can’t leave at the 53 mark, you’ll look like a lazy worker.

He busied himself with his various work websites, clicking through menus, even pushed an odd update that was overdue. 3:57pm, now there was a time. Not too early, not too late. He scooted his chair back, making a great show of it, pushing off his knees and stretching deep.

“My God, is it 4 o’clock already?” John said from behind him, turning in his own chair. He had his own busy work up, Dee was sure, but the screens were turned slightly away from him.

“Yessir and thank God it’s Thursday.” Dee began picking his bag up, his water bottle and lunch box.

“TGIT, eh?” John said. He snapped his fingers, “That’s right! Y’all still playing cards?”

“Yup, got ’em right here in my bag.”

John chuckled. “Well, y’all have fun.”

They exchanged their daily fist bump, a ritual that neither remembered who started, and Dee made his way out the door.

He jockeyed his way out of the garage, vied for pole position at the lights, pushed his way tooth and nail ever onward onto 610. All the while his audiobook went on, transporting him away from the traffic and the tedium of a long commute. It was “The Blade Itself” by Joe Abercrombie today, and he had been a little disappointed by the so-called “Lord Grimdark.” Grim to be sure, dark in some parts absolutely, but grimdark Dee had understood was supposed to be a different thing altogether. Then the plot transitioned into the climax, and each arc began concluding.

“Oh,” Dee muttered under his breath, as a particularly gut-wrenching scene played out, with one of his favorite characters no less. “I see we save the worst for last.”

Dee pulled into the driveway, a full hour passed since he’d left his work. A lot can happen in a novel in one hour, and the events rolled around in his head. He knocked on the door, waiting, listening. Leaves crunched under his shoes, and then he heard movement approaching. Dogs barking, a woman’s voice hushing them. A commotion as she corralled them.

The door cracked open but the woman was still holding back the animals. Dee stepped in, the two large dogs beside themselves, pulling, whole bodies wagging, attempting to get him. The short woman held them back with both hands and sharp words.

“Hey hey,” he said with a wave. He shouldn’t have spoken. They redoubled their efforts, the smaller of the two breaking loose and bounding towards him. Laughing, Dee stepped away, excusing himself for the bathroom.

When he came out the dogs were under control, but he didn’t see her anywhere. “Where’s El?” he asked his ex-in-law.

She half scoffed, half laughed. “You know Ray needs to blow dry her hair.”

“Ah,” Dee nodded.

They stood in the kitchen when she came out. A blur from the hallway, flying towards Dee. She lunged the last few steps, colliding hard into his legs. “Oof!” he said.

“You nearly knocked him over!”

The little girl peered up at Dee, a gap toothed smile to match his own.

“Hey, kiddo,” he said. “Ready for our date?”

She giggled up at him. “Of course! I’m ready for McDonnys!”

“McDonnys!” Dee replied, shocked. They’d gone there almost every Thursday for well over a year. “How did you know it was going to be McDonnys?”

She shrugged. “I just know!”

The food went quickly. The characters of “The Blade Itself” still tumbled in his head. How had Joe made them so interesting? The characters were so… What was the word? Didactic? No that wasn’t it. He halfway had his phone out to look the word up before he realized what he was doing. No, no. He pulled his hand away. His daughter was laughing, moving her arms around as she told a story. He smiled, nodding along.

The night was coming to a close, and they sat at the table in the library. Dee peered at the cards in his hand, and over at the piles of cards his daughter had lined up. She was collecting a lot of pairs and triples. He peered at his cards again. Had he asked for 5’s last round or 6’s? If he asked for the same one twice in a row that would look suspicious. The Queen in his hand glared up at him. She knew as well as he did that there was a stack of her sisters at the other end of the table.

“Got any…” he paused maybe too long. “6’s?”

She smiled across from him, triumphant. “Go fish!” He let himself sigh internally.

The game progressed nicely, until suddenly he realized she was going to destroy him. He’d hardly scored 2 points. Dee’s brow furrowed when he realized his mistake. She was going to notice.

He laughed trying to play it off. “You destroyed me!”

She laughed maniacally, hands raised as she counted out the points. 11 to 2. He shook his head, allowing himself another internal sigh as she didn’t seem to notice the discrepancy.

Dee collected the cards up, shuffling them back up.

“Can we play another game?”

Dee flicked his wrist, checking the time. No, no it was too late for another. Almost too late for… “Sorry kid, not enough time for another.” Maybe he could ask next Thursday… Then Dee remembered the words of Logen, ‘Once you’ve got a task to do, it’s better to do it than live with the fear of it.’ Dee steeled himself and said, “In fact, we need to head upstairs real quick so I can ask the librarian about something.”

“Why?” Why. Kids and the question ‘Why.’ Don’t worry about why, kid, dang.

Instead he said, “I just have some questions I gotta ask, don’t worry about it kid.”

They marched up the stairs, and she grasped his hand, holding it tightly. There was a line to speak to the librarian, and they waited. Was that his heart beating in his ears? Why was he so nervous all of a sudden? This was something he did already. This was something… Well, that he wanted to take seriously.

His turn was up, and a middle aged lady with an accent asked him the question. “How can I help you?”

If this were a novel or a movie, perhaps he would’ve frozen up, or maybe he would’ve turned and ran away, and the plot would need to kick him back into this space. But this wasn’t a book or a movie, and he smiled openly and spoke easily. “Hey, I saw online that there’s a monthly writing group? I was thinking about coming but wanted to see if there was anything I needed to know before showing up.”

The woman’s face lit up into a smile. “Ah yes! There’s about 9 or 10 people, regulars, who come every month. Here,” and then she stepped from behind her desk, walking briskly away. Still holding his daughter’s hand, Dee followed after her. She led him halfway down the stairs, a different staircase than the one he’d come up, and pointed to a flier on the wall. “Here’s the one,” she said.

A colorful flier on the wall. Some random animals sat hugging each other. He noticed two pieces of information right away.

Embrace

and

1500

Fifteen hundred words wasn’t too bad, he could do that. Embrace. “Embrace, like a hug?” Dee asked.

The woman chuckled. “It could be an actual hug, sure, but it could also be…” she paused to find the word, “Metaphorical, as well. Like, you embrace something in your life.”

Dee nodded. Of course. Hard to stretch a hug out for 1500 words, no doubt. He snapped a picture of the flier for good measure. “Thank you so much,” he said. She smiled back and made her way back up the stairs.

Dee and his daughter returned downstairs, and she picked out a fresh book for the week. Pete the cat, her favorite. She was running out of ones she hadn’t read yet.

They walked out of the library, the cold air pulling at their hair. She skipped next to him, her hand in his. He smiled down at her, mind racing already. A literal hug, or a metaphorical embrace. What about metafictional? The story was already tumbling in his head. He just needed to sit down and write it.