Bon Fire Stories

I’ve been writing for quite some time, on and off. I wrote little stories for my kids and their friends and read them at night around the bon fire in our back yard. We would have a bon fire every weekend. The more my kids friends heard about my stories, the more kids would show up at our bon fires. I would make sure the stories included interesting things that the kids would enjoy. They were short stories, but I constantly worked on keeping them interesting. It made me feel good that the kids would come around because they looked forward my bon fire stories. My good friend, Bobbie lived next door and we did many things together. We helped each other with our gardens and go grocery shopping together or go pick up or drop off our kids where they wanted to go.

When my marriage was in trouble, Bobbie kept in contact with me and helped me through it, but I quit writing when my husband filed for divorce. I couldn’t concentrate on anything and I kept making mistake after mistake trying to work through this difficult time. After 15 years of marriage, life as my boys and I knew it was over. I struggled through attorney appointments, prank phone calls from my husband’s girlfriend, and trying to fill the void for an absent father for too long and I couldn’t get my writing mind working again. My boys asked me when I would write another story, their friends kept asking as well. I just kept telling them I didn’t know. I felt bad as my three boys looked at me with confused looks on their faces as all hopes of a normal life were suspended until further notice.

After months of dealing with the mess, I sat down with my favorite pen and a pad of paper in hopes of a story to offer my boys and their friends. It ended up with me at my desk staring out the window wondering what I did wrong in my marriage. As I looked down at my pad, the paper was blank and in frustration I got up and walked away.

After dinner one night, Bobbie and I sat down in front of the bon fire when she asked me about my stories, I told her I was just coming up blank as my eyes glazed over thinking about my husband. She enjoyed my stories too and noticed I wasn’t writing anymore. She knew I was having a hard time and she knew all the neighborhood kids and my kids loved my bon fire stories. Bobbie made some suggestions but my gaze just watched the flames dance in the bon fire. The kids came out and stood or sat with us for awhile but ended up going somewhere else for their entertainment. I was numb with pain and I couldn't be creative right then.

One day Bobbie came over for coffee and she wanted to borrow my notebook of stories, she wanted to read them again. I understood and I trusted her so I let her take it home to read. We didn’t discuss her bringing my notebook back because I just plainly trusted that she would when she was finished reading it. Well, time went by and I didn’t see it. I started to worry because I missed my beloved notebook. It was full of stories written when I was happier, I needed my notebook, and I loved my notebook. When I confronted Bobbie about where my notebook was, she told me plain and simple that she would give it back after I wrote a new story. She said I needed to write again and that she believed it would help me move on to a better place in my world. I was angry and bewildered, but I knew Bobbie was right. I wanted to write too, but I just couldn’t come up with anything that stuck. It all looked like gibberish to me. Bobbie continued to come over and call me and do things with me but she only bugged me about writing stories once in a while. She sounded like an old mother hen bugging her child to finish his homework.

One day I was feeling pretty good and I decided to sit down and try to come up with a story. I still spent a lot of time staring out the window but at least I came up with a rough draft. After a few hours, I wasn’t able to come up with a complete story, but I felt a lot better about being able to finish one soon. Actually I was almost giddy at the idea of being able to read a bon fire story once again. I loved all the neighborhood kids and I wanted to see those smiles spread across their faces again.

I ended up making a complete revision to that story and the stories slowly returned but not quite as frequent. I knew I had more work to do. Bobbie came over to give my notebook back and with a warm smile I thanked and hugged her and my notebook. Bobbie truly is a good friend.



Word Count: 866