SANDS OF DELUSION 


By Tessa Harvey


WASTELAND
Tiredly, Jaxon stretched out a fire-scarred arm and turned the doorknob, pushing hard. The door refused to budge. Frowning, Jax felt through grimy pockets, shaking fluff and other detritus from his fingers until he found the key.
    As the door flung open to the dim hallway, he instantly knew the house was empty. It was his son's turn to do tea, a job he loved, but there was no warm smell of frying onions or mushrooms. There was not even the smell of supermarket pies in the oven.
    A note was propped on the cluttered kitchen table, wedged between the chicken salt and the sauce bottle. "Gone to do homework at Bry's."
    "Yeah, right!" thought his dad. He washed his hands in the laundry, put on some washing, used the sanitizer, and checked the fridge. He still had a microwave meal. Checking the use-by date, Jaxon grunted approval, pierced the plastic and put it in the microwave - chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes and peas.
    The jug boiled and he made his usual strong coffee. He no longer watched the news, deciding instead to click on a Christian radio station. Last week he had turned it on by chance. It had been a very good talk on Forgiveness. Wish I could forgive myself, thought Jaxon.
    Just then, there was a firm knock on the door. Maybe Phil next door had come for a chat. Instead a neat, greying lady stood on the doorstep.
"Is it possible to talk to you for a minutes about your son, please?" 
    Puzzled, Jaxon gestured her to come in and dusted a chair for her. "Has his ball broken your window?" he asked at a loss.
    "No," the woman hesitated, then abruptly stated, " my daughter is pregnant. I believe your son is the baby's father."
    Jaxon was incredulous. "But," he stammered, "he's just a little boy..." Then he caught himself. Suddenly he realised the little boy was long gone. His son reached his shoulder at least.
    "Not Max," he thought, stunned. Suddenly the front door opened, and Max stumbled in. It was obvious he had been in a fight. His face was bruised, his jacket ripped. "Hope the other guy looks worse, lad." Jax aimed for levity. This situation was rapidly escalating beyond him.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
SANDS OF DELUSION   By Tessa Harvey INFERNO The   fire crept back into his mind, tiny tendrils of live flame in an old stump, dying down to grey embers, then flaring into molten lava, spilling over, racing through dry dead grass, fingering the gum trees, then leaping high like kittens to reach the threads of branches...     He had heard the fire was coming, and was up on his roof, filling the stopped gutters with water from his old trickling hose, resentful at the wanton waste of water.     In a country of water tanks and scant rainfall, such a precious resource was not squandered lightly.      For a while he had been aware   of cinders drifting, falling, burning. The firies had shouted, "Mate, go, there's no time," as they had screeched past his land in their already scorched truck.     Then there was a terrible roaring, and the fiery inferno had crested the rise before him. Jax had been stunned - somehow he had thought the fi...
Read more
Image
SANDS OF DELUSION   By Tessa Harvey Sylvia looked her son straight in the eyes. "Before you say ANYTHING, Jaxon, it was NOT your fault dad died. I checked." She had actually checked to make sure for her own sake, but the doctor assured her the heart attack was massive and nothing could have been done to save him, even if he had been in the coronary care unit.      As it was, Sylvia was immensely proud of Steve, trying at the very end of his own life to save others from a dreadful car crash.     "It was not your fault about your wife either, Jax. You had no way of knowing which path the fire would take. Nor did you know where Merilyn was. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You aren't God, Jaxon, and if you don't let him take control of your life, you will have nothing left. All this worry is hurting Max!"     She reached out her arms to him and he came to her in tears. She patted his back. "I love you son, very very much. Now you have a ...
Read more
Image
SANDS OF DELUSION   By Tessa Harvey "Dad, dad, wake up!" Jaxon, disoriented, looked at the sleep-rumpled face of his son. The boy was also frowning in anxiety. "Dad, you have to stop this. You have to get help!" Max declared. "Sorry, son, you are right. I will!" Jaxon looked around at the tossed-around bedding. Glancing at the window, he could see it was almost morning. "Fine, I'll ring Poppa."     His dad was good at counselling. It was his life's work. He was a pastor at a church close by, in the next town. His dad, Steve promised to come over later that day. He didn't ask unnecessary questions.     After lunch, he waved goodbye to his beloved wife, Sylvia and set off in his little green car. It was a clear, cool late autumn day and the leaves of the poplars were silver and gold. A breeze was setting them spinning and dancing.     The sky was a merging sea of blues infinitely beautiful, patterning round cloud islands, white and crea...
Read more