I came across a post on Instagram and in the caption was a short story/scene about a kid who gets in a DUI and tries to change his life.
The writing is simple without many metaphors, a very factual retelling of events, but through a more profound lens. I loved this way of storytelling. The subject matter of screwing up and finding your way back, this also interests me a lot.
Please suggest books that feel like this writing, I am not an avid reader but I need desperately to read more stuff like this.
Thankss
Here's the caption:
It was Dad’s weekend to have you. Dad is not strict like Mom and Patrick. Luckily they didn’t impound his car. He said he begged them not to. You got an Underage DUI. You imagine a modified electric chair for someone your size. “If I don’t go to jail tonight, God I promise, I’ll do better in school and focus more on work.”
Dad came to bond you out at 1:03 AM. “I don’t think you understand how—could’ve taken someone’s life out there. Going 95 miles an—Jesus Christ. I have nothing else to say to you. Unbelievable.”
“I’m sorry, I really messed up and I know I’m probably never driving again. I’m not hanging out with Joel or Bianca as long as I live.”
Dad: “What would Mom and Pat say if they knew about tonight?”
You: “When I failed AP English, they made me sleep in a tent in the backyard for a week. They said I had to earn my way back in the house. So, I dunno, but they’d probably just kick me out.”
Dad spoke to Mom and Patrick about the DUI. Then you started living with Dad. You kept your promise and just went to school, work, and home. Waking up at 5:00 AM with Dad was a new experience. You’d watch him pour coffee in a faded maroon gas station travel mug. The steam would evaporate and disappear around his face. His face because he was hunched over the mug. Hunched like a Junior Surgeon (Jr. Surgeons are capable of performing minor surgeries for people without insurance. Anything pertaining to arms or legs).
You look at this man, your father, and think, “If it was medically necessary to save my life, I’d let Dad amputate one of my fingers. Even if he didn’t know how, I know he’d try his best. As long as Dad’s with me, everything will be fine. If anything bad happens, Dad will explain why. Then we can go home and play basketball in the driveway. He’d teach me how to dribble with four fingers.”
A Junior Surgeon in a black cotton shirt with a few holes in the collar. The car keys jingle and scrape against the travel mug. That’s why it’s faded in the middle. The keys.
by ye_olde_broken_human