the Gift	  the Gift

 by silvina

  

 

 Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimer. But I really, really want them. Please
send comments, questions, compliments, and otters to sdelcul@yahoo.com. 

 Author's Notes: I apologize for the list overload, but please bear with
me (feel free to send angry emails and fling inanimate objects) until I
catch up. Keep in mind that internet is a two hour bus ride away at the
moment and I have to boil my water before it's safe to drink. Gotta love
rural Ecuador! 

 Story Notes: 

 

 

 He'd been doing a favor for Rosa Vecchio and bringing down old clothes
from the attic when he'd come across the photo album. He was opening it
like a sacred relic before he even realized what he was doing. 

 Two hours later Mrs. Vecchio came up to check on him, and found him
engrossed in the old pictures of a young Ray, Maria, and Francesca. 

 "Ray's 6th birthday party. We gave him a toy police car." 

 He looked up, startled, and she smiled. She continued before he could
begin apologizing. "When I tucked him in that night he had taken it to
bed. He told me that he'd decided he was going to be a police officer when
he grew up. I remember telling Carmine about it later, and he said, 'Don't
worry. He'll grow out of it.' He never did." 

 "He certainly is stubborn." 

 "Stubborn and brave. I worry about him even more than I did before." 

 "As do I." He looked away. 

 "He'll come back to us, Benton. Safe and sound." She patted his knee. 

 "He loves his family too much to stay away any longer than he has to." 

 "Ray will do what is asked of him, and he loves his family, but it is not
us who he does this for." 

 "I don't understand." 

 "I know this was a surprise for you, Benton, and a bad one as well. But
he did this for you. My son loves you, as I know you love him. He needed
to feel worthy of that love, so he left, but he will come back." She slid
the picture out of the album and placed it in his hands. "Here. Let this
help you remember that when you start to worry. You can return it when he
does." She kissed his forehead and left him alone. 

 "Thank you," he whispered. "I love you, Ray." 

End the Gift by silvina: sdelcul@yahoo.com

Author and story notes above.