Welcome to the household of the Sprutts. Where the members work day and night to live in a small apartment on the outskirts of Philadelphia.
“RYAN, BRING DOWN THE FLOWERS WITH YOU,” The mother called her son from the bottom floor.
“I AM COMING MOM,” He responded, sensibly.
Ryan carried the blood-red roses with him. He walked to the small, short wooden table on the ground, and placed the 6 roses on top of the table. Next to the flowers was a portrait, a portrait of a person. To him, that person was a part of him that he is still not willing to give up on. It is the person that cared for him when his parents were not there. The person that played with him when he had no one to play with.
It was his sister, Rosa. It was her memorial. It has been 10 years since she has died.
Through the portrait, she smiled at Ryan. It was a proud smile of an older sister in the graduation ceremony of her younger brother. In the portrait, she smiled with her pony-tailed hair, peach flowered dress, and with her secrets.
Ryan sat on the white, flat pillows on the ground that lay in front of the wooden table.
“Hey, Rosa,” He started talking to the portrait, “Your brother is here with you! I am starting to lose it, Rosa. The more you are gone, the more I miss playing chu-chu Train with you-remember those days!- It has been a while, Rosa. I know you are, with me, with us, but I want you to actually be there, with us, be there for me,” his pale, pimpled skin grew wet, and his eyes looked like soggy bread.
Heavy steps fought the stairs, and Ryan’s stepfather, Marvin, popped out in the open. Ryan quickly wiped his tears away.
“It’s fine, Ryan. I am no stranger.” Marvin said.
“It’s not that, It’s ju-”
“I know. I know.”
Ryan’s biological father died a few days after he was born in a car crash. His sister and his mother are the only ones that raised him. His mother married Marvin 7 years ago, and Ryan still feels uncomfortable around him.
Marvin walked across to Ryan and sat on the other pillow next to him. Both were wearing a suit and a tie.
“I brought the candles,” the mother of Ryan, Melinda, walked to the table from the kitchen, “Scented candles, Rosa’s favorite,” just like Ryan, Melinda’s eyes turned into soggy bread. She placed the vanilla-scented candles on the left side of the portrait, and swiftly moved her wrinkled body to the pillow beside Ryan, leaving him sitting in the middle.
All three sat in a horizontal row in front of Rosa’s portrait, and all closed their eyes for 3 minutes. 3 minutes only to remember Rosa for the year. 3 minutes to reflect back. 3 minutes of Melinda feeling guilty and killing her insides for not answering the voicemail.
ding dong
An envelope was slipped through the bottom cracks of the rusty front house door, the same door that Melinda busted through to only end up in the middle of the neighborhood street after listening to the voicemail 17 minutes late.
Ryan walked up with his tall legs to the door of guilt and bent his 5’8 height over to reach the envelope.
ONCE IN A LIFETIME TRIP TO THE BAHAMAS FOR FREE
Ryan read it out.
“Now is not the time, Ryan,” the father responded.
“I agree with your father, Ryan. Come and sit back down.”
Ryan thought…YES! this is what we need! To escape from this depressing guilty household!
He opened the envelope and found 3 cruise ship tickets, all of which were in their names.
“Mom…I think we might want this.”
“We are in the middle of a memorial, Ryan.”
“I know, but can we go on a break for o-”
“It’s probably fake, Ryan.”
“It is not though.”
Ryan’s mother stood up from the ground, with the sound of crackling bones following her shortly after. She took the tickets from Ryan and looked at it surprised. Shortly after, Marvin also stood up and arrived next to the door. All of them looked curiously at the paper.
The mother put the tickets back in the envelope and then took out the letter.
Congratulations on being one of the few to win this trip!
You are lucky to get a 5 day trip on a cruise ship to the Bahamas! You will get your own cabins too! This is the break and holiday you deserve, so do not miss out on this beautiful opportunity!
The cruise ship will leave the Philadelphia Port in two days from the day you receive this letter.
“I don’t know about this. It seems too good to be true,” Melinda said.
“Let’s give it a try, honey. It might not be fake!”
“So…are we doing this?”
“Rosa would not want us to limit our entertainment after her death, so I think we should go for it!”
“Really?”
“Yes, honey. Let us enjoy ourselves for once!”
“Please, mom.”
A moment of silence went by.
“Okay, okay. I do not see why not!”
“YES!”
“But, we need to finish out memorial first. Rosa’s waiting for us after all, so let’s not keep her waiting!” Melinda said.
“Let’s do this.”
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