"Midnight Waters" (StoryADay Challenge/Day 9)

THE PROMPT (BY MARTA PELRINE-BACON, WHO IS A STORYADAY SUPERSTAR, AND A PARTICIPANT IN THE CHALLENGE SINCE 2010. MARTA IS THE AUTHOR OF SEVERAL PUBLISHED SHORT STORIES IN PUBLICATIONS SUCH AS THE AUSTIN REVIEW AND CABINET DES FEES. SHE IS ALSO AN ARTIST AND A TEACHER.):

Choose an object within reach of where you’re sitting. Three people desperately want this object. Write a scene or story in which the characters fight over said object. Ideally choose an object that people wouldn’t obviously fight over.

 *

“Midnight Waters”

 “Are you the manager?” 

“Yes. Thank you for coming, my name is Jeffery.” Jeffery extends for a handshake.

The handshake is ignored. “What seems to be the problem here?” 

“If you follow me, I’ll show you.”

Jeffery leads the way, past the onlooking shoppers in the checkout line, to aisle seven. There with a store associate holding a three-wick soy blend scented candle are three shoppers. 

“Thank you Tonya, I’ll take the candle. Go give Felicia a hand with checking out customers.”

“No problem Jeff,” Tonya said, passing him the candle and leaving the aisle. 

“About time you arrived officer,” a Caucasian woman said, standing beside her young daughter. 

“What is your name ma’am?” the officer asked.

“Margaret. And this is my daughter Sidney.” 

“My name is Officer Reynolds, who wants to speak first.”

“I do,” the black woman standing beside Margaret said. “My name is Esther.”

“Hold on a minute,” Officer Reynolds said. “What’s your name chief?”

“Dexter.”

“Okay, now that formalities are out of the way, what seems to be the issue?” 

Margaret crossed her arms. “I spotted that candle first.”

“No the hell you didn’t,” Esther said. Looking at Sidney, “Excuse my language sweetie.”

“Do not call my daughter sweetie.”

“I was actually the one in closest proximity to the candle,” Dexter said. “It’s really mine.” 

Officer Reynolds removes his hat and rubs his forehead painfully. “I don’t understand, there are plenty of other candles on the shelves.”

“I can help with that,” Jeffery chimed in. “You see, the candle that these three folks are squabbling over is ‘Midnight Waters’, It’s our best-seller.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass,” Officer Reynolds said. “All candles smell the same to me.”

“I’m not leaving here without that candle,” Esther said. “My oldest daughter is leaving to college tomorrow, that’s her favorite candle and I promised I’d get it for her.”

“Well you should have came earlier,” Dexter said.

Esther turned her head towards him. “How old are you? Twenty-one? Go home.”

“I may have a young face ma’am, but I’m thirty-four if you must know.”

“Well I’m not leaving without that candle either,” Margaret said. “My husband is returning home from knee surgery he got, pushing Sidney here out of the way of an oncoming car. He saved her life. She could have been killed. Doctors say he may have to walk with a cane from the rest of his life. And we all feel terrible.” 

“I’m glad to hear that your husband and daughter are okay,” Esther said. “That’s truly a blessing. But I think a card would suffice.”

Dexter laughs. “I agree with Esther.”

Margaret looks at Dexter. “Listen up kiddo, my husband is a sports fanatic. He loves playing sports, watching sports, he even does that damn fantasy league stuff I don’t understand. This is the candle that we both discovered on our very first date thirty-four years ago. It was on the table at Dream/Catcher. I just want to recreate that feeling. To let him know how much I, we, all love him. He’s our hero.”

Jeffery tries to wipe a tear away discreetly. 

“I saw that,” Officer Reynolds whispered. 

“I’m really happy that your husband is alright,” Dexter said.  “But you don’t need this candle. Your beautiful daughter is all the proof you need to see how wonderful everything is, thankfully.”

“Don’t you tell me what I need,” Margaret grunted.

“My daughter has never been away from home for an extended period of time,” Esther said. “She’s really nervous and excited, about leaving to school. She’s studying to be a doctor. I’ve always had this candle around the house for her while she was studying. She never realized it initially, but it produces a very calming effect. I just want her to still have that feeling as she’s thousands of miles away blossoming into womanhood and following her medical dreams. That’s my baby.” 

Esther pulls out her cellphone. On the lockscreen is a picture of her daughter. 

“That’s my Bridget.” 

“She looks just like you,” Officer Reynolds said. “A splitting image.”

“Thank you officer.”

“I need this candle because my wife is in her third trimester. This is our second attempt at having a child. The first time around we had a stillbirth.”

“I am so sorry,” Esther said.

“Me too,” Margaret said.

Dexter nodded. “It was a very emotional time for us. We weren’t even sure if we would try again. It was so painful. I cried, shit we cried for months.”

“That’s a bad word,” Sidney said, stepping out from behind her mother.

“Shhhh Sidney, adults are speaking,” Margaret said.

Dexter chuckled, his eyes misting up. “This baby feels like a miracle. You both have your beautiful families. I never had that. I just want to experience it and be the best possible father and husband I can be.” 

“I wish you and your wife the best junior,” Officer Reynolds said. 

“It’s Dexter,” he said, dapping the corner of his eye with tissue. 

“Officer Reynolds,” the dispatcher on his radio called. “We’ve got a 10-54 in your vicinity, copy?”

Officer Reynolds put back on his hat. “Does anyone of you know what at 10-54 is?”

Everyone shook their heads. 

“It’s a possible dead body,” he sighed. “In three weeks, I’m submitting my retirement paperwork. I’ve seen some very tragic things wearing this badge. Things I won’t go into because of little Sidney here. My wife of forty-one years is a praying woman. Every time I leave to go on duty she prays. I’ve had multiple partners--who’s even been over for dinner--taken from me on these streets. It’s a very unpredictable world out there. And as dangerous and frightening as it can be, my sweet sweet wife, everyday looks me in my eyes before I leave the house and tells me ‘remember there is still beauty.’”

Officer Reynolds gently takes the candle out of Jeffery’s hands and puts it to his nose. His eyes light up like fireworks. “Wow,” he said. “I think I’ll buy this for my wife.” 

The End

**This is a work of fiction. Names. characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.