Everything Has a Price

Uncle Roger teaches Caroline that everything in life has its cost

The book was warm in Caroline's hand, as if it had been in a shaft of sun in Uncle Roger's study rather than buried in a box in his attic. She wondered why he would hide such an antique up here in a box of military uniforms. She read the faded title and felt she understood: The Price of War. She returned the book and carried the box down the stairs to place it with the rest.

She was sealing the last of the boxes, remembering holidays at Uncle Roger's. She remembered the smell of the study: cherry pipe smoke and old books. She was smiling over this memory, taping boxes closed when she saw another book, very similar to the one from the attic, in a box of old letters and cards. The Price of Love was stamped on the cover. She frowned; she didn't remember packing a book into this box.

Curious, she began to look through the other boxes. Inexplicably, each contained an old book: The Price of Childhood in a box of antique toys; The Price of Education in with old transcripts and progress reports; The Price of Peace in a box full of medals and a small blue flag with one gold star on it.

Caroline noticed the wall clock and realized she was running very late. She put the strange books out of her mind, taped up the remaining boxes, and went outside to notify the movers.

She arrived to her appointment just in time. She waited for the doctor to arrive—D. M. Alengo, Oncology. He sat down behind the desk with a book, looking sadly at Caroline. Caroline saw the title of the book and knew what Dr. Alengo was going to say.

The title of the book: The Price of Life.

NOTES: ▼

Word Count: 300
Submitted for "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge" 
Prompt: Use the words book, star, hide