Gerald Abbing's Amusement Park: A Short Story

Gerald Abbing’s Amusement Park Gerald Abbing sat in the corner of his dark, musty living room. He held the paper in his hands, gently flipping the pages every moment or so. He hadn’t done much since his wife had left for vacation last week. In fact, he had done almost nothing at all. Gerald had spent the last few days re-reading his newspaper and taking sips of his water. But then he heard the piercing ring of the telephone come from the kitchen. It took him a minute, but he got himself out of his chair and went to answer it. He didn’t recognize the voice speaking to him at first, but then he realized. His son, Alwin, was asking his dear father to watch his two children, just for a weekend. Gerald hesitated, he didn’t want to, it would be awkward, considering he hadn’t spoken
First, he went to the carousel to confront the squirrels. He asked them gently if they’d be so kind as to leave the premise only for two hours, so his grandchildren could play. But they refused. They shook their small squirrel heads and refused. Gerald began to softly hyperventilate. He should have never given the squirrels the park. Slowly, he left them. Gerald agreed that he didn’t have time to think about another plan, he would have to do something or else his grandchildren would never want to come back to his house. As much as he thought before that he wouldn’t care about them, or how many years had passed, the feeling of guilt ran over him in jolts like he was being electrocuted. He stood square to the squirrel who refused him, held out his hands, picked up the tiny body, and threw him onto the ground. There was a small pause of time before he had really realized what he had done. The fluffy animal lay limp on the dirt. Gerald shed a small tear. But this was the road he felt he was destined to take, for his grandkids. He ran back to his musty, dusty home. The grandchildren sat contently at the dinner table, still nibbling on their