One of the Family
by
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As I entered my bedroom, I laid the tray on the bed and unfolded the table tray that sat in the corner of my room. Placing it in front of my favorite chair, which faced the window on the north side of my room, I retrieved my food. After turning off the ceiling light, I turned on the small night light, opened the Venetian blinds and sat in my chair. I waited for the family to gather.
"There they were, already eating… Mrs. Henderson, Mr. Henderson, Junior and….and ….not… Evelyn. My heart skipped a beat. Where’s Evelyn? She wasn’t there. “My God,” thoughts began to race. “She had missed her appointment with me; she hadn’t answered her cell phone, and now she wasn’t home eating with the family?”
"I began to panic. Should I rush over and bang on the door and yell for her. I thought of Tennessee William’s character, Stanley, in his play, “A Streetcar named Desire” when Stanley shouted, “Della! Della!” I’ll run under Evelyn’s bedroom window and shout, “Evelyn! Evelyn!” And then what? I’ll appear as the biggest fool this side of the Mississippi.
"Okay, Charles, get a grip,” I said out loud. “Are you some kind of nut that you have to sit at a window night after night and pretend you are part of someone else’s family? Are you insane? Are you so lonely and miserable that you have come to this?” I continue to examine my feelings. “What’s next? Ordering a blow-up doll and pretending it’s Evelyn? Or why don’t you just order a mail order bride and make your own family?” I felt sick and ashamed. “What would a psychiatrist classify me as….a ‘peeping Tom’ or some type of psycho-path? Enough of this self-pity, man, get a grip! You’re going insane.”
Charles Walker....is he insane, is he a peeping Tom, or is he just a lonely man?
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About the Book
This is the story of Charles Walker, a man who desires to become a part of the family who lives next door. Every evening he sits at his upstairs bedroom window with his dinner tray, turns off his light and watches the family, next door, eat their evening meal.
As they sit, eat and chatter, they do not realize that their not-so-friendly neighbor is watching them in the darkness of his room. He can only imagine the dinner conversations that “the family” has. He can only imagine what it would be like to date their daughter, Evelyn. He can only imagine what it would be like to become “One of the Family.”
About the Author
Regina Bruce was born in Norfolk, Virginia. Being influenced as a young child by her mother who wrote plays, short stories, poems and many literary essays, Regina wrote her first screenplay in 2000; thus, she is registered in the Writers Guild of America. She enjoys working her puppet ministry with her husband and writing children’s books.