It's In the Family

by G.Parker

I went to visit at my brother's house last Sunday (a weekly ritual from when my dad used to live in the same house), and one of my brothers had come that I haven't seen in a while. He made an astounding statement. He said he'd started writing a novelette. I was floored - I had never pictured him writing!

He explained the outline of the story, asking if it would be upsetting, did we think, if he used real names in a fictional story that was pretty much our high school. We teased him that as long as it wasn't obviously our high school, he'd probably be fine. He assured us it was all fiction, and I thought the story line was great. He then told us that he actually had two others either in mind to write or had already written. He figured he'd put them all together with the title "Books that you will never find in print."

I was in shock the whole time. I had never imagined it. I had always been the writer in the family. Well...besides my mom. Mom was always writing poems to go with the photos she took of the grandkids. In fact, she'd created kind of a children's poetry book with photos of the grandchildren acting out various nursery rhymes. There's one with my son playing Little Jack Horner. It's dang cute, if I do say so myself...

The shock wasn't over. My younger sister arrived with her daughter and dog (she brings Jack everywhere -- he's a shaggy barrel with legs) and heard the end of his announcement. She laughed and said she was writing something too.

I felt like I'd been transported to another reality and I didn't know these people. I mean, when did everyone else start writing? She said she'd started as a stress release.

Unfortunately, I have to admit that the first thought through my head was "Fine. Watch - they'll submit something on a whim, and get published." Doesn't that seem the way it is? I was ashamed of myself, and expressed my surprise to my hubby on the way home.

He pointed out that sometimes people take up stuff that their parents had done after they've been gone for a while. My mother has been gone for six years now, and I think he has a point. All her creative energy was always there in her children, they just hadn't felt the need to access it before now. Who would have thought?

So, there might be a couple of writers in my family. Who knows, we could form our own writing group and perhaps they'd actually read some of my work...

Naw -- that's a real fantasy.