7. Different Change

“Something bothered me back then, still bothers me today,” Hilary said. “Heath didn’t tear down that shed.  He dismantled it.  He pulled every nail, unscrewed every screw, and put them in an old coffee can. When he had it all torn apart, he stacked the wood and covered it with a tarp.  About a month later, when he thought the wood was dry enough, he burned it. He buried the ashes and the nails and screws, and planted a tree over them.”

“So what’s the problem?” I asked.

“He was a seventeen year old boy, whose father was taken from him.  Where was the anger? Why didn’t he take a chainsaw to the shed? Why didn’t he smash it with a sledge hammer?  I wanted to.  Sometimes I think he must have stuffed his anger.  Maybe he’s still stuffing it. That can’t be good.”

“People adapt in their own ways,” I said. “You got drunk and angry until you couldn’t get drunk anymore.  Heath grew up, maybe faster than you’d like, but he grew up.   He adapted by being mature.”

Today I will accept people adapt to change in their own ways, in their own time.

Time for a Change ©2017 by Ken Montrose

Time for a Change is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com