Short Story Time "Two Points of View"

 Location: Heart of Haynesville RV Park; Mansfield, Louisiana

I've been back for five days now, and the weather hasn't been too bad. I think I came back at the right time, but I have been eyeing the weather forecast in Galveston for a future visit. 

This story popped in my head as I was making my last tow before arriving back here. I'm not sure how all of this happens, but these stories bang around in my head until I can type them out. Once that happens, then I'm freed from them being "silent echos" in my head. This one is a little different and you'll see at the end. 

Two Points of View

They were both sitting anxiously in the hospital waiting room, hugging each other as they counted down the time until they became grandparents. The medical technician stopped in front of them and said, “Open wide”, as he showed them what to do by opening his own mouth. Anne was the first to comply by opening her mouth and the technician quickly and efficiently swabbed the inside of her mouth with a cotton swab. He then turned his attention to George who protested and said, “why are you doing this”? The technician explained that it was a free service provided by the hospital to all family members of newborns. They had contracted with Ancestry.com to provide families with a genealogical family tree. George looked at Anne and they both shrugged as he opened his mouth for the swabbing. Their son came out of the delivery room beaming with pride and amazement. He had witnessed the birth of his son and realized he was now a father. His father looked at him and said, “welcome to the club”. The times couldn’t have been happier for the entire family.

For the next several days, George and Anne reminisced about how perfect their marriage and family had been for the last 23 years. They thought of how they met at a restaurant where each had been dining alone, and their tables were close enough for a conversation to start. She had been stood-up by a date and he was recovering from a recent breakup. It was when each ordered black coffee with their dessert that two shattered hearts reached out to each other. George asked her if she wanted company. She replied, “Sure, but only until they could finish their coffee”. Four hours and three pots of coffee later, they were asked to leave because the restaurant was closing. Neither realized that hours had passed while they were just talking. When they walked outside, the only two cars remaining in the parking lot were theirs and as if there was another fateful intervention they were parked next to each other. It was as if their cars had been getting to know each other at the same time their owners were doing the same thing. The cool night air broke the magic spell as they both climbed into their cars and drove off into the night.

Over the next days, George couldn’t get Anne out of his mind. He had so many questions he wanted to ask her. He longed to know everything about her. He regretted not getting her number when they were at the restaurant. He was at a loss on how to find her again. Then he thought, ‘why not go back to the restaurant and see if they knew her name’. He arrived at 7:00 and before he could ask about her, the maître-de quietly said under his breath, “Geez, here we go again”. George was puzzled by that but then asked about the woman. The maître-de said, “Follow me”. When they stopped, George’s heart fluttered as he saw Anne sitting at the same table as last time and with a cup of coffee in front of her. They each had had the same idea of how to find the other. From that day forward, they both knew exactly where the other was at any time of day or night. They married a year later and two years after the wedding day the family became complete with the birth of their son, George, junior. Years followed, with their love for each other growing stronger every day. They never had any major arguments and only minor disagreements such as which color to paint the walls in the living room. As usual, they compromised and each painted two walls in their color. The bi-color room became a conversation piece for decades. Both attributed the lack of arguments to the one and only big one they had not long after getting married, but before Junior was born. Neither knew why they argued or who was at fault. All they knew was it was a big one and both promised each other never to repeat that again. Twenty years of amazing family memories followed. Each year held so many wonderful memories that they seemed to blur together into one. Memories, such as the birth of their son where George held Anne’s hand throughout the labor just as Junior had recently done with his wife, to teaching Junior how to ride his bicycle or when, years later, comforting him when a girl broke his heart in junior high. Ultimately Juniors’ heart healed, and one day he brought his future bride home to meet them. To George and Anne, it was as if life was coming full circle. A year later, everyone was overjoyed to hear about Junior and his wife being pregnant and a new grandson that would soon be joining the family. Junior proudly told his parents that the plan was to name the baby, George III and nickname him ‘Trey’. George was swelling with pride and told everyone about the upcoming event and about the three generations of George.

Anne had been checking the mail early every day since Trey was born. The one day that she was late in doing so, George brought the mail into the house. He was scanning the envelopes for bills when he noticed one from Ancestry.com. He almost threw it away as junk mail before remembering the mouth swabbing in the hospital. He called for Anne so they could open it together. When she came downstairs and joined him, she noticed the envelope he was holding and knew what it was immediately. George ceremoniously announced, “We have been building our future for twenty-three years and now we can discover our genealogical past and tie the future and past together”. Anne didn’t respond as she held her breath. George read and re-read the findings, he then slowly turned to Anne and flatly said, “It says I’m not blood related to Junior or Trey. It says you are, but that I’m an outsider, not even a part of the family”.

It was at that moment that Anne’s darkest fears became a reality and her heart sank. That reality was something that had occurred so long ago that she had completely put it out of her mind. It was as though it had never happened. It had been out of her mind until that damn cotton swab was put in her mouth, and her memories came flooding back. The memory was of her sitting in a hotel bar after a long day while on an out-of-state business trip. Before leaving on her trip, George and she had that one big argument of their lives that they had made jokes about over the years. After one too many drinks, a stranger came over and offered to buy her another drink. The first thing she noticed about him was how similar he looked to George and that sparked a combination of anger from the argument and the desire to make up. This confusion of feelings probably affected her answer when she told him, “Sure”. She woke up the next morning with a whopper of a hangover and gasped when she rolled over and saw the stranger lying next to her. She instantly realized what had happened and fled back to her room. In her mind, her life was over. She abandoned the business meeting by faking an illness and flew home on the next flight. She debated with herself on the flight home as to whether to come clean and confess to George what she had done. She wondered if the love of their young marriage could survive such a confession. She made three decisions on that flight, 1) She would not take a chance in telling George and reasoned in her mind that what George didn’t know couldn’t hurt him and therefore by not telling him, she would really be protecting him, 2) She would never again put herself in a position to cheat. She realized that everyone is capable of cheating; it is just a matter of being in the wrong frame of mind when given the opportunity to do so. If she could protect herself from those two things occurring at the same time, she would be safe. 3) She would devote the rest of her life to being the very best wife to George. She would secretly make up for her betrayal. Over the entire time of their marriage, she had passionately kept all three promises she had made to herself.

Before Anne could explain, the door opened quickly, and Junior, waving his copy of the report in the air, walked over to them. While looking directly at his mother, he said, “This piece of paper says I don’t have a father”. He quickly changed that by saying, “They are wrong because I have had a father my entire life and he is standing right there.” Still staring at his mother, he calmly asked, “Who is he?”, to which she softly said, “I don’t know”. In unison, George and Junior asked in surprise, “what do you mean you don’t know”. She clarified by saying “I mean, I don’t know his name or anything about him.” She then told her beloved husband and son her most shameful memory. After she completed her story, George and Junior sat in shock at what had been revealed.

George was the first to speak when he stood and hugged Junior. He told him, “I have loved you since before you were born and there isn’t anything in the world that can change that, but for now I need to talk to your mother in private”. With that, Junior shook his head while looking at his mother and said, “OK, we can talk later” and left.

George turned his attention to the wife he had cherished for more than two decades and the mother to the child he loved. He slowly said, “So, our entire family life has been a lie?” She quickly replied, “No, I love you now and I have always loved you. It was just one mistake. I was drunk and it didn’t mean anything.” George said, “No, Anne, a mistake is forgetting to pick up milk on the way home. What you did was a series of choices. Then you choose every day to cover it up with lies. It may have been ‘lies of omission’ but nevertheless were lies.” “I’ve proven my love to you for 23 years”, Anne forcefully said. Controlling his anger, George told her, “I used to believe that until today. Now, you’ve shown yourself to be a liar. How can anyone believe anything a known liar says? Once the trust is broken, how can it be repaired?” Anne, while sobbing, whimpered, “I was protecting you by not telling you.” When the last word cleared her lips, she realized how silly that sounded. Those words which had once helped her clear her conscious, now only sounded hollow.      

(This is where the title Two Points of View comes into play. The story could take two totally different directions. The reader can decide. Which way should the story end? Should they divorce and face all the problems that will bring about? Or, should they stay together and try to work it out? Obviously, she shouldn’t have cheated, but should she have kept it a secret and lied? (Comments are welcome.)

Darrell Goza

September 7, 2025