Mothers

Flash Fiction

Mothers

"I fixed it! I got it!” a boy yelled.

Dad heard, not sure who said it. He was home taking care of his two boys, and two neighbor boys while the three mothers went to the bake sale uptown.

He listened, but nobody spoke again. He could hear moving around in the living room where the kids were supposed to be watching TV. Thinking he had them covered, he’d gone into his office to read. Kid watching was never a strong suit with him.

Suddenly it was too quiet. Dad started feeling nervous. Four small boys, a TV and blocks, how could it be so quiet? He got up and went to the living room. It was empty of kids and the TV was off.

His first reaction was anger. How dare they go off without telling him where they were going! But panic took over quickly, he was supposedly in charge. Where were the boys?

“Alex, Jason!! Where are you?!!” he yelled. But the house was quiet. Now panic took over. Dad ran upstairs in case they had gone to the kid’s rooms. Empty. Running back downstairs, he went straight for the back door, exploding into the backyard with “Where are you?”

“Over here!” Jason yelled.

Turning the corner, there were the four boys, standing next to the chimney. They all looked over, but then turned back to the chimney.

“What are you doing out here!” He said in his sternest voice, “Nobody asked me if you could play outside!”

“We’re not playing Dad!” Jason said, laughing.

“Why are you out here then?”

“We saved a fly and brought him outside, see?” he pointed to a fly on the chimney.

As they all walked back into the house, Dad suddenly had a lot more respect for mothers…