Unfinished Symphony by Jeffrey Allen White (good non fiction books to read .txt) 📖

when the door was thrown open and Hurricanes Justin and David entered with an explosion of talk and motion.

“Hey slow down. You’re causing a jet stream.” Ken turned as Justin ran through the kitchen. David headed him off around the hall beating him to the TV.

“Hey! I get the remote. It’s my turn!” yelled Justin.

David held the remote as if a trophy. “Too slow, sucker.” He threw himself on the large sofa they all used to watch television and dug in while Justin went into the kitchen.

“Dad, David’s got the remote and it’s my turn. Make him give it back,” Justin whined to his dad and checked what was being prepared.

Ken was bringing the hot meatloaf on a platter and a bowl of steaming carrots to the table. Ken nuked them both at once and was a pro at double nuking. He was about to set the table and decided to heat up some biscuits he had gotten the day before. “David, give your brother the remote.” He popped the muffin into the microwave as he took out the required number of silverware for the three of them. He also grabbed three plates from the sink’s dish rack as no one ever put them back yesterday after washing. Nothing new.

Justin made a face at David and gave him a fake chock hold to make his point. “You just wait.”

Ken stood between the battling brothers and grabbed the remote. “I have a better idea, no one has the remote.” He tossed it in the basket on the coffee table, which held all the remotes, video games, wires and joysticks.

“Ah, Dad, no fair!” cried David as he sat at the kitchen table.

“Now let’s all get ready. You, David, get up and wash your hands and then Justin and this time... use soap.” Ken would make a point of checking them as they always tried to get out of doing whatever they were told. He never knew how hard it was to care for twins, especially boy twins. Being identical twins, it was almost impossible to tell them apart and even on a good day, he was really fifty percent correct in knowing whom he was talking to. He remembered Katie and the way she handled them and Kimberly and well just about everything. He felt so alone.

“Hi, Dad.” Kimberly came in with a rush and went straight to her room. “I’ll be right there, Dad. Got to call Maggie first.”

Ken walked past her room. “You were just with Maggie. It can’t be that important.” Ken grabbed the dirty towels left on the doorknob of the boy’s room.

“But, Dad, I have to tell her something.” Kimberly whined in her way.

She was stubborn just like him, he thought. “Well, this emergency news flash will have to wait until after we eat. Now come on”. He swung his arm around her and with his other hand; put the phone on the dresser. Kimberly went unwillingly but quietly.

“David’s making noises, Dad.” Justin had joined them at the table.

“Why can’t we just eat peacefully? I know it is hard but... try.” Ken smiled at his kids. He had hoped that this would be an uneventful night. “Afterwards, you can do your homework and then you can watch some TV...”

The boys looked up. Ken repeated himself, “After you have done your homework”. The boys went back to their eating. Ken stood eating a piece of bread with a slice of meatloaf on it while the kids served themselves on their plates. He did not want to drag a fourth chair in for the lightning round of dinner.

”Dad, Maggie wants to know if I can spend the weekend with her and her Dad on Long island.” Kimberly carefully separated her carrots away from her meatloaf and ate them one at a time, just as her mother did.

“Well, the whole weekend?” Ken was surprised. “I thought we would spend Saturday in the park and maybe on Sunday we would go to a movie or something.

“A movie, that’s great Dad.” David chirped up with his mouth full.

“Don’t be gross,” Kimberly said. “You’re such a Neanderthal.”

“Dad, Kimberly called me a bad word!” David was insistent that his father put a stop to this right away.

“Justin laughed, “She said you were a knuckle dragger.” He laughed at his brother.

“Dad, tell him to stop eating like that. It’s totally disgusting.” Kimberly moved her chair away from David.

“Now look just let’s eat quietly. Digest your food. I just thought we would all spend a nice weekend together.” Ken lamented.

“Can’t, Dad” said Justin.

“Why not?” he asked. “Do you have a date?”

“A date? Hahaha. Who would date that dork? Hahaha,” Justin howled with laughter.

“No one from this planet.” Kimberly drank her milk that Ken had poured for the three of them as he ate his sandwich.

“What do you mean, you can’t?” Ken asked again.

“Don’t you remember we have our class trip to the country for three days?” Justin reminded him.

Ken remembered. “That’s right.” He had forgotten. He could not remember everything. They were going to a nature preserve in upstate New York.

“Maggie wants me to go home with her on Friday after school.” Kimberly finished her dinner and started to clear her plate.

“I guess it’s all right.“ Ken hated to disappoint her since her mother died. He knew he was spoiling her but she never really gave him any trouble.

“And Mrs. Claremont says we leave right after lunch on Friday.” David smiled showing his two front teeth which were missing. Justin on the other hand had lost his teeth a week or so earlier and now, they were identical again. “And we have to have all our things ready when we go to school.”

“Well then, I see the whole weekend has been spoken for. Kimberly is going to Long Island to spend a weekend with her friend. Justin and David are going to nature camp upstate for three days. I say you all have a busy dance card.” Ken picked up his plate and brought it to the sink. Kimberly had already started to wash the dishes.

“Hurry up David; I want to get these done before American Idol comes on.” Kimberly glared at her brother. Justin had brought his plate and glass over and was now on his way to the bedroom to start his homework reluctantly. He had to write five sentences. That was all. However, you would think it was a novel length essay.

Ken looked at his growing children. He thought they were growing too fast. They were certainly going off on their own more and more. He wanted to be there for them but they all had other plans. “It seems that I have the whole weekend to myself then.” Ken put away the leftovers.

“Oh, Dad, you can just sleep all weekend. It will be quiet here then.” Kimberly was right. It would be quiet. Too quiet for him.

The boys were now horsing around in their bedroom and the thought of homework was far from their minds. There were more important things to do like beat up on each other with their pillows. Kimberly finished the dishes and headed for the phone and Maggie. Ken went into the living room and sat down on the sofa.

Glancing around the room, he looked at all the furniture, pieces acquired over the years from relatives, friends and thrift stores . Katie had a knack of making things look great. Ken spied his cello near the piano. That was Katie’s piano. He had bought it for her one summer when they were in college. It was a great deal from the school music department when they remodeled.

Ken got up and went to his cello. He had stuck his music and some papers in the pocket in back and retrieved them.

Browsing through the pile of papers, he separated the music from the newspaper and found the piece of paper that Carl gave him. He opened it and sat on the chair. He examined it and thought how absurd it would be for him to call up this strange women and ask her out. He said to himself, “Why not.” He did not have any plans this weekend. The kids were all on their own agenda.

Ken took a deep breath, reached over to the phone, and picked it up to dial out. “Dad, is that you? I am on the phone!” Kimberly gave her father the dreaded teenage mortified voice. The one she would make when she thought he had crossed the path of a teenager with a sacred mission.

“Sorry honey.” Ken hung up the phone. He was thinking about getting her a cell phone but he was waiting for a sale. He put the paper down and his feet up on the coffee table. Ken found the remote and turned on the TV. The piece of paper with the name and phone number had fallen off the table and into the magazine rack unnoticed by Ken.


Chapter 3

The next morning, the kids awoke as usual and they all ate their breakfast and were waiting for Ken to drive them to their schools. The boys were at St. Mark’s, a private catholic school and Kimberly was at PS seventy-four, a public school. She had been in St. Mark’s but begged him to go to a public school.

He had not slept well. He thought of Katie all night. In addition, how he gave a name and number by Carl to call some stranger for a date. Ken could not think of himself ever dating again. After all, he had promised to love honor and cherish his wife forever.

The kids ran down to the elevator while Ken drank the last of his morning coffee. He needed it. He had not slept very well. As he walked to the door, he thought of the piece of paper with Laura’s number on it. He walked back to the sofa and searched the end table for it. He could not find it. Ken was sure he left it here last night. After several minutes, he went out the door locking it behind him.

In the elevator, Ken thought how silly it was of him anyway and it was probably for the best, that he lost the number. He could not date her. He could not date anyone. Ken told himself he was over the hill and that was that. The door opened.

“Oh Dad, wait! I forgot something!” It was Kimberly, ready to jump in as the doors parted.

“What? What did you forget?” Ken was use to this routine but hoped it would