Page 11 - ABILITY Magazine -Cedric Yarbrough Issue

“This is your journey.”
He was right. Love is the answer.
“So, I guess I won’t need you anymore?” I responded.
harder. Her tobacco pipe breath scorching my cheeks. My eyes began to water then twitch. “Well don’t just stand there,” she snapped. “Get inside. The toilets clogged again. The plungers broke so I need you to reach down in the john hole and loosen everything up. And don’t ask me for any rubber gloves. They’re too damn expensive. Now get in there. Let’s see if you can do something right for a change.”
“No,” he said. “I’ve done my job here. Now it’s up to you to go find some reconciliation and some peace in your heart.”
The last thing I remember was everything going black.
We drank one last beer together and said our goodbyes. I hugged the fish, kissed him on his head and threw him overboard. Strange, before he hit the water I could’ve sworn I heard a giggle, but chalked it up to the wind. It didn’t matter. I had caught my fish.
I sat in the cell with a priest. “Fish, alphabet soup, and a Twinkie? Kind of an odd last meal request,” Father McWiggins remarked.
That night I arrived at Mother’s house. When she opened the door, I beamed with a smile. Without hesitation, I hugged her and told her how much I loved her. She pulled away and looked deep in my eyes and asked “Where the hell’s your fish?”
“It’s the only thing I could think of,” I solemnly replied.
“Oh Mother, what an extraordinary day I had. I caught a fish this big. Then we talked for hours... about you, me and father. Everything. It’s going to be alright. Everything’s going to be alright again,” I chirped.
“Why did you do it, Jeff?” the priest asked. “Why did you mount your mother on a wall?”
Then, mother began to laugh in my face. “I knew you couldn’t catch a fish. How could you? At least a fish has a little brain. You got nothing.” She began to laugh
“It just seemed like the thing to do at the time,” I sighed.
“I think the fish played ya,” McWiggins added.
“Looks that way,” I shrugged.
by Jeff Charlebois
ABILITY 11