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Challenge of the Month II
The Gift. Write the story of a gift, passed from one hand to another. Perhaps it is a heart-warming gesture of kindness and goodwill. Or perhaps it is something more foreboding, more sinister. Perhaps it is a simple, material object. Or perhaps it is something more amorphous, more esoteric. Whatever it is, it must be a gift. Fiction or non-fiction, poetry or Prose.
RachOC
81 reads

The Birthday

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" My mother asks me over the phone, she does not want me to feel any pressure to do this. She forgot that I broached the subject to her myself several months ago.

"I do, this is one of the few things that I am completely sure of." I tell her and a smile comes to my face, he is going to be so happy. With that, I sign the last document and the lady congratulates me. I walk out with my new name and I go straight to the birthday party. My stepfather is turning fifty-five today. I hold the manila folder tight to my chest.

"Did you do it?" She asks me over the phone and I tell her that I did. She instructs me to give it to him last. I quickly wipe away a tear as I walk into the venue. He is opening everyone else's presents first. He looks up at me and smiles before motioning to a chair on his left.

"My beautiful daughter is here everyone," he announces happily to everyone, I just cannot wait until he finally understands how true that statement was. He unwraps every present and thanks the person that gave it to him. Finally, after all the presents have been unwrapped, I hand him the yellow envelope. He looks at me skeptically and I tell him to open it. He slowly tears the piece off and I am already crying. He looks confused but continues to remove the paper. He reads it with a look of confusion until he realizes what the paper means. Suddenly, he is crying and I am crying and then we are hugging each other like crazy. I hold onto him as I never want to let go. Today, he learned that I decided to change my last name to his. Everyone watches, confused, because no one has told them anything yet. Finally, my dad holds up the papers and says, "My beautiful daughter has decided to change her name and take my last name."

Suddenly everyone is congratulating him and my mom walks up to me, "That was a very nice thing that you did for him Lilly."

"Thanks mom," I say, still unable to stop crying as everyone hugs me.

I stand over the grave, finally out of my memories, "Hi dad," I say to him. "It has been a while, maybe about two weeks. I am sorry for not being able to see you. I got married recently, do you remember when I introduced Matt, I brought him here. Matt has three brothers and I know that you only had me, he decided to change his name to our family name. How is mom? Is she driving you crazy up there? I miss you but like you always say, I still have a good couple years until I see you again. I love you dad, I will come back here in a few days to check in again." I finish what I say and then I pick up my bag. I make sure the lillies, his favorite flowers, are well placed. I place my hand on the headstone and then I turn around and walk out of the cemetery. The sun is slowly starting to set in the west, casting shadows as I brush away my tears. I walk to my house, the home I grew up in and I step inside. I go to the refrigerator and I take out ingredients to make dinner. I make dad's favorite food. He would have turned seventy-five today.

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