#RonHoward #Producer #Television #Entertainment
Mr. Ron Howard, are you looking for a #series of #shortstories?
Contact me please. Roger J Lown
Why I can’t give a simple and honest
answer?
The life of Andrew Henneway.
A creative story. From pg 31 of my
#amazon #ebook, "Do Not Disturb: This is my reading time”. Click on links
below my post. Thank you.
We
are taught to tell the truth, right? We teach our children to tell the truth.
The bible states, “the truth shall set you free.” No, the truth gets Andrew
Henneway in trouble in this case with his aging widowed mother.
Andrew,
a gentleman who is in his forties, walked the isles at the home improvement
center, it was a holiday Monday and he has the day off. His mother called as he
was browsing up and down the warehouse floor. He answered his cell phone
knowing from the caller ID that it was his mother, “Hello?” She began, “I know
you’re at work I just wanted to let you know my neighbor will take me to my
appointment tomorrow.” Andrew took a breath and replied with an honest answer,
“Ok, but I’m not at work I had the day off.”
He
braced himself, as he knew what was coming next. His mother blasted, “I
wish you told me you had the day off I could have gone shopping!” Andrew replied-preparing for more backlash, “Well I
had stuff to do.” She hesitated for a moment and then asked inquisitively,
“Where are you?” He told her he was at the home improvement center and
she probed even further, “What are you getting?” He told her he was getting ant
traps.
The
inquisition continued, “Why?” “Do you have an ant problem?” He answered, “yes,”
and explained that once the ant traps were in place they would be quite
effective. His mother scolded her adult son as though he was a teenager, “You
know you gotta’ keep your floors clean and sprayed with disinfectant…” this lecture continued on for thirty minutes until
Andrew finally came up with an excuse for having to end the telephone call.
Later,
Andrew’s daughter wanted to know if they could go over to see grandma at her
home. He told his daughter, Julia, that grandma hadn’t been feeling well, was
exhausted and napping. The truth is suspected that Andrew had gotten’ into an
argument with his mother and they weren’t talking. In light of the ant problem
and rushing to annihilate the mighty ant fortress consuming his kitchen floor
area and spreading rapidly toward the main walkway- it was too complicated to
explain to his daughter what the actual situation was at the time.
A
simple question turned into an instant drama scene for Andrew Henneway! Just at
that moment-his mother called him and asked if he would take her shopping
Thursday after work. Whenever she needs something she always called at the last
minute not leaving any time for her son to improvise in order to accommodate
his mother’s requests-and this drove her son crazy!
He
said he’d attempted to give her a schedule as to when he could take her out,
but “No
she won’t have any of that!” In her
mind…. when she called he should “drop everything,’ and just take her where
ever she needed to go!” For some
reason, she didn’t take into consideration that her son has a busy life with
work-related responsibilities and child custody visitation schedules -aside
from transporting his mother who didn’t drive.
Andrew
told his mother that he could not take her shopping after work. Annoyed she
probed, “Why not?”
He explained that he desperately had to take his car to the automobile repair
shop. Next, she wanted to know what’s wrong with the car and he told her,
“Nothing is wrong the car- it just needs a tune-up!” His mother inquired
further, “didn’t you have it in the shop last month?” He answered, Yes, I needed tires!” She
continues, “You’re always having problems with that car!” He defended,” What problems? It needed tires and
now it is tuned up!” She returned, “Where do you travel that you need new tires
-you don’t travel long distance-do you?” Again he answered as though being
interrogated under a bright lamp,” I drive back and forth to get Julia!” The
situation between Andrew and his ex-wife annoyed Andrew’s mother so immensely
that she sneered, “I don’t know why you have to drive back
and forth… why cant she cooperate and bring Julia back to you?” His mother added further, I’d
make her travel.” Andrew explained
as he had on numerous other occasions that he did what he had to do in order to
maintain the ability to see his daughter without complication.
Andrew
lived in a nice one-bedroom ground floor apartment, which is probably why those
darn ants marched into his home in the first place! Aside from those pesky ants
occupying his apartment, he’d frequently relinquish his rights to his one
bedroom by allowing his daughter her privacy when she’d visit for the weekends.
He slept on the cold uncomfortable couch in his living room while watching the
ants go into a complete frenzy from the ant traps he’d just put into strategic
place.
Some
people agree with Andrew on this type of arrangement and some people don’t! It
is easy for someone to give his or her two cents when it isn’t their life’s story
in question-my inner voice screaming, “yeah that’s right!” Due to this one bedroom unit being on the ground
floor- dealing with dampness is an ongoing feat in his apartment as well. He
asked his neighbors if they too were dealing with dampness and the odor that it
brings. These neighbors claimed that they had the same smelly situation. One
neighbor used a dehumidifier to not only assist with the problem of dampness
and odor but also, doused their apartment with all of the commonly advertised
great so-called smelling deodorizer air spritzers and candles. Once I walked
into their apartment and thought their power had gone out or they were having
some sort of weird spiritual encounter!
Andrew’s
mother called again in order to ask her son if she’d left her sweater at his
home and IN FACT’
she did! She informed her son she was coming right over, “at
that minute” to get her sweater. His
heart sank, “what would I tell my daughter if the truth gets out?” He knew his
mother was in route and just then he observed her from his window marching up
the front steps. He quickly met her at the door stuffing her sweater into her
open arms. She then sputtered, with a wrinkled-nose,” Smells musty in here!
What did something crawl in the front door and die in here?” He always kept his
apartment overly clean however, on damp days-it tended to reek of rotten eggs!
From
this story… you might have a clearer understanding of how just a mother who
means well and is overly motherly, possessed the capability to elicit such
immense feelings from her son to the point that she drove him crazy enough to
forget the reality of things, thus, forcing him into a state of total disarray.
He actually lied which was against his principles! Her tendencies to mother him
even into his latter years had clouded his better judgment of simple answering
his daughter’s question straight forth-as he probably would’ve done in the
first place! As far as Andrew was concerned despite the constant questioning
and the chiding he always felt succumbed to that his mom was really a total
sweetheart!
In
her past, there was once a child within herself who’d been deeply hurt and
abused, therefore, she desperately attempted to shield her son from the same
circumstances in his own personal life. Andrew’s mother was always trustworthy,
reliable, and the only secure child sitter he’d ever trust. She instilled these
same values in her son but “thank God she didn’t see the ants!”
For more Information about Roger J
Lown and his writing work visit the following sites:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RogerJLown/
LinkedIn:
https://linkedin.com/in/roger-j-lown-7ab19494/
Roger
J Lown Blog Site: https://rogerjlown.blogspot.com/
Youtube:
https://youtube.com/channel/UCy9DtQ94WXd9CLZMDcD0hBw
WordPress:
https://rogerjlown.wordpress.com
Click
on these links Roger J Lown’s books on Amazon:
