Story by Guy Hogan


            
The Good News


            




            James Parrish had signed a contract with a small, but well respected
            publishing house for his first novel. He was a thirty-three-year-old
            MFA student at the University of Pittsburgh. He phoned Philadelphia
            from his off-campus apartment in Pittsburgh to tell his mother
            the good news. Unexpectedly, his older sister Terri answered
            the phone.



            "Oh, hi, Jimmy. Well, I'm going to do it."



            "Do what?"



            "You know. Get the divorce. I went over yesterday to try
            one last time to talk some sense into his head."



            "You're back home?"



            "Where else am I and the kids going to stay?"



            "I guess I should phone home more often."



            "He kept getting up and doing things. He couldn't sit still.
            He couldn't look me in the eye. Is gambling that important to
            him? I make $35,000 a year. He makes nearly three times that
            amount and we still live pay check to pay check."



            "I know."



            "You know what he had the nerve to say to me? He's been
            gambling since junior high and he's not going to stop now. Three
            kids and fifteen years of marriage mean nothing to him. I give
            up. I absolutely give up. He's never lifted a finger to help
            around the house."



            "I know."



            "The bank phoned two weeks ago and said if our mortgage
            fell another month behind they'd foreclose on the house. The
            mortgage is his responsibility. So what did he do with the money?
            I had to come up with two months back rent."



            "He's always gambled."



            "Yes he's always gambled but nothing like this. This beats
            all. He's sick. He's really sick. He needs help. Well, after
            yesterday the damn place can fall down on his fat head. You should
            see it. And you should see the lawn and hedges. I hope the neighbors
            call the township. I am so sick of it."



            He heard tears in her voice.



            "Listen," she said. "I have to run Mom to her
            dental appointment before the kids get home. You want to say
            a quick hello?"



            "Sure."...



            "Hi, Jimmy."



            "Hello, Mom."



            "I was wondering when you would call. I tell you I never
            have a dull moment. Your father wouldn't have put up with it."



            "It's too bad about Terri and Greg."



            "That's the one thing I didn't have to worry about with
            your father. He did his dirt like any other man but he always
            did say a man was no man if he didn't take care of his family.
            In over fifty two years of marriage at least I didn't have to
            worry about that. I never would have thought it of Greg. Oh,
            well, he'll pay now."



            "You won't be in the house alone anymore."



            "Being by myself never bothered me. Okay, okay. Gotta go."



            As soon as he put down the receiver the phone began to ring.
            He sat, staring at the ringing phone. After a moment, he got
            up and went to the kitchen and returned with a glass and an open
            bottle of beer. He sat back down on the sofa and drank the beer
            and waited for the ringing to stop.







            Guy Hogan is a Vietnam
            Veteran. He received his MFA in fiction writing from the University
            of Pittsburgh in 2006. He lives and writes in Pittsburgh. His
            homepage is Flash Fiction Tips & Short Stories About Pittsburgh
            (www.flashfictionnow.blogspot.com).