MYSTober 2024

31 vignettes based on single-word prompts. One story.

18. Thrive

Simon stacked his lumber behind the house. As he wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his wrist, his wife Caroline rounded the corner with their son Jason following closely behind her. "Hello, Love," he greeted her.

"You're still working on this, huh?"

"I am." He slung his saw over his shoulder. "You didn't think I was serious, did you?"

"I was about halfway to believing it. Do you know what you're doing with all of this?"

"Well, I've seen pictures of the giant boat that brought our grandparents here. I figure I'll make a smaller version of that." After a moment he added, "A much smaller version."

"I'm not sure I want to leave. I mean, look around." She gestured broadly in a circle all about her. "We have everything we need here. We have a house to live in, a community to be part of, all the food we need, and our family."

Simon lowered his gaze to his wood pile. "Most of our family."

Caroline quickly stood next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I know. I'm sorry I said it that way."

He covered her hand with his. "It's not your fault. He disappeared before we really knew each other. Naming our son similar to his name is my way of keeping him alive."

The innocent, high-pitched voice of his son cut through the air. "I'm named like someone?"

Simon leaned down to meet his son's eyes with a smile. "You're named after someone I looked up to a lot when I was your age."

"Wow!"

Caroline said, "His memory is here on this island. His history is here. Why are you so set on leaving all of that? All of this?"

Simon stood back up. "Because I've seen the boat. It was huge, and like nothing this town will ever be able to make here. We have a community, but have you counted all of the empty houses? I don't think we have everything we need here because it's paradise – although, it is one. I think we're just what's left of a group of people who were never supposed to be here in the first place."

She slowly paced to the wood pile and sat down on it. "However we got here, we're in a good situation now. What's so wrong with that?"

"We're doing well because our predecessors did poorly. We survive at their expense. That's all it really is though – surviving. Imagine how much more we'd have if instead of growing up on this island, we'd grown up among the community who built the ship that stranded our ancestors here."

MYSTober 2024

Table of Contents

18. Thrive