The Pacific Trade Winds: A Short Story

It had been another rough afternoon. There was yelling, name-calling, and blaming, all parts of the rollercoaster of emotions riding through her home. Watching the phone slam into the ground, shattering into numberless pieces, had been the highlight of the day. She did not see a reason in continuing on this ride, which appeared to be leading to pain and misery. The promises of love died like the Pacific Trade Winds forgetting their promise to keep the tropical islands cool. She, like the windless islands, knew the stench of failure.

She took the kids and left, hoping a movie would lighten their hearts as she tried to figure out what to do next. Plane tickets were going to be expensive and there was the matter of the house and cars. She did the finances in the family and knew that debt had been what was keeping them together, but also tearing them apart. The drive was long and gave her time to think things through. Thinking of what life would be like on her own left her heart empty. Her son wanted to play a car game to pass the time. “I’m thinking of an animal…” It was the same game on every drive and the animals always had four legs, a tail, and hair.

As they arrived at their destination the animal game contained the freakish animals the boys invented when they couldn’t think of any more real

As she searched for the topic the first talk that appeared was titled “Eternal Marriage”. Frozen in time the words played a tune in her mind as her eyes began swimming in tears. Her broken heart finally began to ache as she was engulfed in the gulch of despair. It was over. She knew it was, but the words would not go away – “Eternal Marriage”. They began to sing repentance, forgiveness and love as she shook from the overwhelming significance of what was happening. It could not be ignored, but only acknowledged. “What do I do