A Piece of Cake

A man meets his neighbor under strange circumstances. 299 words

         Word Count - 299






         

It's a Piece of Cake

         Bill looked out his front window and saw that his neighbor had not raised his flag again. This was the third day he had noticed. Bill knew his neighbor but only in the wave to him every now and then when he saw him outside way. There was a brief introduction, and he thought he remembered his name was Gary. He could call him on the phone, but he didn't know his number. There was only one thing he could do.
         He pulled his shoes on and stepped out the door. Bill stopped at his flag and saluted. The flag flapped proudly in the wind. His days in the Marines had taught him to respect and honor the flag.
         At his neighbor's front door Bill paused to take in the empty flagpole. His neighbor had been in the Navy, but he still understood flag etiquette. He knocked on the door and soon heard a noise inside and the door opened.
         "Hello, Bill. Can I help you?"
         "Gary," Bill nodded, "I felt I needed to check on you. I noticed your flag had been neglected and I wanted to see if there was anything I could help you with."
         "Well, my wife just died. How are you with resurrections?"
         Bill was caught off guard, "I'm sorry, Gary, I didn't know."
         "Come on in and have a piece of cake. I have five or six of them that people from church have dropped off."
         Bill walked through the door and into Gary's kitchen. Bill thought, what a strange way to get to know your neighbor over a piece of cake and conversation about his dead wife you should have known.{{/size}


          No more than 300 words
          Prompt-write a story that includes the words cake, flag, and phone.