A week after I should have been born, I still wasn’t. And then a few days later when everyone had gone home, I arrived. My father presented me a voucher to redeem when I was eighteen. But he withheld his hug, from me, from Mum. He was impatient because you arrived late, she said.
It created an echo that was repeated over again. I was late. People got angry. I got later. They became angrier. I was late for school particularly on Thursdays. Double Chemistry. I was late for my first date, first kiss. Last dance. Last train home. She grew weary and I was too late to notice. I was late for the birth of our first child, and our last. The middle one never arrived.
I was late for the bus. The one that might have crashed had the bus driver not waited for me. Into a truck that loomed in the shadows and crossed our path just as I was getting on. I thought of my father’s displeasure. I told the bus driver that me being late had saved our lives. He listened more than I expected, and I took a window seat to catch the passing light.
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Why I Was Late was co-winner of the Stories at the Duncairn Shadows & Light Flash Fiction Competition. It was read on August 9 at Belfast’s Duncairn theatre by actor Tony Flynn during a Scribes story event with writers Paul McVeigh (one of the competition judges), Jan Carson and Bernie McGill.
Alan McCormick Writing 