Myshuno! 2: "It's never too late to be what you might have been."
Prompt: "It's never too late to be what you might have been." (George Eliot)
Universe: Future Unnamed Legacy
Word Count: 351
Notes: I've tried to be circumspect, but this is actually a seriously major plot point I have planned, so...be warned, you may be spoiled.
He couldn't believe it.
He'd answered a chance card wrong at work and had been demoted, which, well, that wasn't the end of the world. There was no real reason he had to work - it wasn't his Lifetime Want (he'd gotten that years ago), they had plenty of money, they weren't in an Apocalypse (thank the Creator) so food and lifts weren't an issue - in short, work was voluntary, and so a demotion wasn't that big of a deal. But he'd always enjoyed working, and now that his wife had died (of natural causes, thankfully, considering everything that had happened in earlier generations...) and the grandchildren were in school it gave him something to do with his days.
But while the demotion wasn't a big deal...he'd been sent home early and told to return at ten tomorrow. He could handle that. What he couldn't handle was what he'd come home to when he'd returned home early.
He'd heard the noises and, being confused, gone to investigate - and what he'd found made him stop in his tracks. It was appalling. He'd walked silently into the house and waited patiently - the next carpool was due in two hours, the schoolbus in three.
And two hours later, the carpool had come, his son had gotten home, and instead of dealing with the situation, he'd simply said hello, walked into the house, and ignored what was happening, as though this were an everyday thing. Maybe it was.
He was utterly appalled.
The lack of care, the lack of respect, the lack of anything resembling common sense...it enraged him. It disgusted him.
It broke him.
As he stared out the window, not really seeing what was actually happening, he realized he knew what he needed to do. He was going to solve this. He was going to make everything better. He was going to live up to the accolades he'd been given so very long ago. He hadn't earned them then, no. But he would earn them now.
And as he walked out the door to meet his grandchildren's schoolbus, he smiled.
Universe: Future Unnamed Legacy
Word Count: 351
Notes: I've tried to be circumspect, but this is actually a seriously major plot point I have planned, so...be warned, you may be spoiled.
He couldn't believe it.
He'd answered a chance card wrong at work and had been demoted, which, well, that wasn't the end of the world. There was no real reason he had to work - it wasn't his Lifetime Want (he'd gotten that years ago), they had plenty of money, they weren't in an Apocalypse (thank the Creator) so food and lifts weren't an issue - in short, work was voluntary, and so a demotion wasn't that big of a deal. But he'd always enjoyed working, and now that his wife had died (of natural causes, thankfully, considering everything that had happened in earlier generations...) and the grandchildren were in school it gave him something to do with his days.
But while the demotion wasn't a big deal...he'd been sent home early and told to return at ten tomorrow. He could handle that. What he couldn't handle was what he'd come home to when he'd returned home early.
He'd heard the noises and, being confused, gone to investigate - and what he'd found made him stop in his tracks. It was appalling. He'd walked silently into the house and waited patiently - the next carpool was due in two hours, the schoolbus in three.
And two hours later, the carpool had come, his son had gotten home, and instead of dealing with the situation, he'd simply said hello, walked into the house, and ignored what was happening, as though this were an everyday thing. Maybe it was.
He was utterly appalled.
The lack of care, the lack of respect, the lack of anything resembling common sense...it enraged him. It disgusted him.
It broke him.
As he stared out the window, not really seeing what was actually happening, he realized he knew what he needed to do. He was going to solve this. He was going to make everything better. He was going to live up to the accolades he'd been given so very long ago. He hadn't earned them then, no. But he would earn them now.
And as he walked out the door to meet his grandchildren's schoolbus, he smiled.