9/8/10 - Been planning on redoing this and got my chance.
Last Names
"So, what does your last name mean?"
Maria looked over her book and stared at John's puppy dog eyes. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I mean..." John stumbled for a moment with his thoughts. "You know about the Holocaust?"
She lowered her book, slowly. "The degrading of our people? The massacre of our ancesters? But of course." He now had her full attention.
"Your last name is Frank."
"Oh, now I see where you're going here. My last name is the same as Anne Frank."
He nodded. "I had been thinking that...couldn't you be related to her family?"
Sighing, she leaned forward, giving him her famous oh-god-he's-asking-questions look. "John, I did a search a long time ago. I have checked five-six times. I am not related to her. Just the same last name. If that's what you were asking." She picked her book back up and turned a page.
John was not finished, however. "That too, but didn't you grow up hating your last name?"
"Any reason for this sudden interest in my last name, hun?"
He shrugged. "Nothing, just really bored and I have been watching your right hand every time you turn a page," He pointed to her right hand, which her watch and ring possessed. "For the last ten minutes."
"I did. Growing up, other kids would make fun of it, saying that I had girl and boy names. Irritating at best. I thought about changing it after I ended up in Foster Care, but I kept it for my parents." Seeing John looking at her, she asked the same question. "What about you? Life must not be kind because of the word Munch, huh?"
"I have been called Pencil all my life. My last name offered no protection. My weight and my name got me nowhere."
Raising both eyebrows, Maria folded a corner of te page she was reading, closed it and looked back up at her lover.
"How about dinner?"
-End
