Oprah Doesn't Visit McGinty's
Summary: This very short story was inspired by "Home Groan."
Disclaimer: Early Edition characters belong to whoever created them. No
copyright infringement intended. No profit is being made.
Author: Tracy Diane Miller
Author's Note: Some of the dialogue that appears in this story is not my own but belongs to the writer of the Early Edition episode "Home Groan."
E-mail address: tdmiller82@hotmail.com
Oprah Doesn't Visit McGinty's
He hurried across the street and walked the path towards his childhood home
situated along the quiet and manicured cul-de-sac. He turned the knob and
discovered that the door was unlocked.
Why was the door still unlocked? Didn't he caution his parents about the
two escaped convicts who were in Hickory? Mom and Dad needed to take his
warning seriously. He realized that Dad was proud at having been re-elected
as community leader and beamed excitedly talking about his "posse", but
unless Dad's posse consisted of Ben, Hoss, Adam, and Little Joe, the Hobson
posse was no match for these hardened criminals. Dad was inviting trouble
with this penchant for unlocked doors. Hickory, Indiana (population 8,325)
might possess a small town mentality reminiscent of the 1950s with those
"hello neighbor smiles" and where time stood still, but the ugliness of
crime had invaded Hickory like a cancer. Denial wasn't going to be an
appropriate cure.
"You really need to keep this door locked". He insisted as he entered the
house. He was taken aback when he saw that the house was overflowing with
people. The whole atmosphere reeked of a maternal machination. It couldn't
be a coincidence that Mom's simple dinner invitation appeared more like a
party.
Everyone, neighbors that he had known while growing up, were happy to see
him. He was their local boy turned big city success. At least, that was
what everyone seemed to think. Mr. Bebo thought that he had a chain of
restaurants in which he was thinking about going public. Mr. Bebo wanted to
buy into the restaurants and interpreted his non-committal response as a
fear that the SEC would discover his intentions so he wanted to keep things
quiet. Others shared Mr. Bebo's desire to be a part of his "entrepreneurial
empire". He left the maddening crowd in the other room. He ran into Mom
coming down the stairs. He questioned her about why everyone assumed that he
owned a chain of successful restaurants. At first, she acted like she had
no idea. Finally, she admitted that she and Dad sometimes embellished
things. Soon, intrusive and tight arms gripped around his waist and he
found himself hoisted into the air. George seemed very happy to see him.
George said that he planned on visiting Chicago. George wanted to know what
night he should come to McGinty's to see Oprah. He flashed Mom an annoyed
look. Mom didn't miss a beat when she told George that Oprah comes on
Wednesdays.
Oprah probably never even heard of McGinty's.
Mom had been bragging about him for as long as he could remember. He
remembered when he played a teapot in second grade. It was just a little
school play, but Mom came with her camera and swelled with pride telling
anyone within earshot about his role. Mom acted like she was attending the
Academy Awards and he was one of the honored performers. Then there was the
time when he first made varsity baseball. Mom behaved as if he had won the
World Series. And when he was selected for the Rotary Scholarship, Mom took
out a full page announcement in the local newspaper no doubt to supplement
her verbal bragging. She told everyone about his scholarship. He had won a
"Rotary" Scholarship not a "Rhodes" Scholarship and was going to attend the
University of Chicago not Oxford University. Once, when he was sixteen
years old, he even got up the nerve to ask Mom to stop bragging about him,
telling her it was embarrassing. But Mom smiled at him before kissing him
on the cheek and insisting that bragging about him made up for the morning
sickness, stretch marks, labor and delivery pains, and midnight feedings and
that the day that he could give birth to a baby would be the day that she
would stop bragging about him. End of discussion.
He hastily escaped from the frenzy downstairs by retreating to the sanctity
of his bedroom. Time stood still there, too. His posters, his trophy, and
his football phone adorned his room just as they had when he was a teenager.
For a moment, he reflected on the happy, uncomplicated moments that he had
spent in this room before he faced adult problems and responsibilities. But
the reverie was fleeting. He pulled out The Paper and read the story about
the two escaped convicts on their way to rob the bank. Just then he heard a
knock on the door. Mom wanted him to come out of his bedroom because the
Petersons wanted to see him.
"Just a second, Mom." He promised even as he formulated another avenue of
escape.
The window. Perfect.
He remembered once when he was grounded. He couldn't remember what he had
done to deserve the punishment, but he did remember that he was seventeen
years old and Mom and Dad told him that he couldn't go out. It was a
Saturday night and he had a date with Genie. So, he waited until they had
fallen asleep and he sneaked out of the house through his bedroom window.
He and Genie had a wonderful date. And he would have gotten away with his
deception except it was raining heavily by the time he returned home. He
climbed back up to his window. The window was stuck. It took a while
before he could get it open. When he finally succeeded, he didn't exactly
enter through the window quietly. Instead, he fell into his room. The loud
noise alerted Mom and Dad who rushed to his room.
Oh Boy.
There was no way he could explain his way out of trouble especially when
they saw the opened window and the fact that he was soaked. Even his puppy
dog look wouldn't work against their angered expressions. Consequently, he
was grounded for three additional weeks for disobeying them.
It seemed like deja-vu as he climbed out of the window. But he wasn't a kid
anymore. He needed to reach the bank to prevent tragedy. It was all part
of his life as the guy who got tomorrow's newspaper today.
Tomorrow's newspaper today delivered by a cat. Wonder what Oprah would have
to say about that?
The End.
Summary: This very short story was inspired by "Home Groan."
Disclaimer: Early Edition characters belong to whoever created them. No
copyright infringement intended. No profit is being made.
Author: Tracy Diane Miller
Author's Note: Some of the dialogue that appears in this story is not my own but belongs to the writer of the Early Edition episode "Home Groan."
E-mail address: tdmiller82@hotmail.com
Oprah Doesn't Visit McGinty's
He hurried across the street and walked the path towards his childhood home
situated along the quiet and manicured cul-de-sac. He turned the knob and
discovered that the door was unlocked.
Why was the door still unlocked? Didn't he caution his parents about the
two escaped convicts who were in Hickory? Mom and Dad needed to take his
warning seriously. He realized that Dad was proud at having been re-elected
as community leader and beamed excitedly talking about his "posse", but
unless Dad's posse consisted of Ben, Hoss, Adam, and Little Joe, the Hobson
posse was no match for these hardened criminals. Dad was inviting trouble
with this penchant for unlocked doors. Hickory, Indiana (population 8,325)
might possess a small town mentality reminiscent of the 1950s with those
"hello neighbor smiles" and where time stood still, but the ugliness of
crime had invaded Hickory like a cancer. Denial wasn't going to be an
appropriate cure.
"You really need to keep this door locked". He insisted as he entered the
house. He was taken aback when he saw that the house was overflowing with
people. The whole atmosphere reeked of a maternal machination. It couldn't
be a coincidence that Mom's simple dinner invitation appeared more like a
party.
Everyone, neighbors that he had known while growing up, were happy to see
him. He was their local boy turned big city success. At least, that was
what everyone seemed to think. Mr. Bebo thought that he had a chain of
restaurants in which he was thinking about going public. Mr. Bebo wanted to
buy into the restaurants and interpreted his non-committal response as a
fear that the SEC would discover his intentions so he wanted to keep things
quiet. Others shared Mr. Bebo's desire to be a part of his "entrepreneurial
empire". He left the maddening crowd in the other room. He ran into Mom
coming down the stairs. He questioned her about why everyone assumed that he
owned a chain of successful restaurants. At first, she acted like she had
no idea. Finally, she admitted that she and Dad sometimes embellished
things. Soon, intrusive and tight arms gripped around his waist and he
found himself hoisted into the air. George seemed very happy to see him.
George said that he planned on visiting Chicago. George wanted to know what
night he should come to McGinty's to see Oprah. He flashed Mom an annoyed
look. Mom didn't miss a beat when she told George that Oprah comes on
Wednesdays.
Oprah probably never even heard of McGinty's.
Mom had been bragging about him for as long as he could remember. He
remembered when he played a teapot in second grade. It was just a little
school play, but Mom came with her camera and swelled with pride telling
anyone within earshot about his role. Mom acted like she was attending the
Academy Awards and he was one of the honored performers. Then there was the
time when he first made varsity baseball. Mom behaved as if he had won the
World Series. And when he was selected for the Rotary Scholarship, Mom took
out a full page announcement in the local newspaper no doubt to supplement
her verbal bragging. She told everyone about his scholarship. He had won a
"Rotary" Scholarship not a "Rhodes" Scholarship and was going to attend the
University of Chicago not Oxford University. Once, when he was sixteen
years old, he even got up the nerve to ask Mom to stop bragging about him,
telling her it was embarrassing. But Mom smiled at him before kissing him
on the cheek and insisting that bragging about him made up for the morning
sickness, stretch marks, labor and delivery pains, and midnight feedings and
that the day that he could give birth to a baby would be the day that she
would stop bragging about him. End of discussion.
He hastily escaped from the frenzy downstairs by retreating to the sanctity
of his bedroom. Time stood still there, too. His posters, his trophy, and
his football phone adorned his room just as they had when he was a teenager.
For a moment, he reflected on the happy, uncomplicated moments that he had
spent in this room before he faced adult problems and responsibilities. But
the reverie was fleeting. He pulled out The Paper and read the story about
the two escaped convicts on their way to rob the bank. Just then he heard a
knock on the door. Mom wanted him to come out of his bedroom because the
Petersons wanted to see him.
"Just a second, Mom." He promised even as he formulated another avenue of
escape.
The window. Perfect.
He remembered once when he was grounded. He couldn't remember what he had
done to deserve the punishment, but he did remember that he was seventeen
years old and Mom and Dad told him that he couldn't go out. It was a
Saturday night and he had a date with Genie. So, he waited until they had
fallen asleep and he sneaked out of the house through his bedroom window.
He and Genie had a wonderful date. And he would have gotten away with his
deception except it was raining heavily by the time he returned home. He
climbed back up to his window. The window was stuck. It took a while
before he could get it open. When he finally succeeded, he didn't exactly
enter through the window quietly. Instead, he fell into his room. The loud
noise alerted Mom and Dad who rushed to his room.
Oh Boy.
There was no way he could explain his way out of trouble especially when
they saw the opened window and the fact that he was soaked. Even his puppy
dog look wouldn't work against their angered expressions. Consequently, he
was grounded for three additional weeks for disobeying them.
It seemed like deja-vu as he climbed out of the window. But he wasn't a kid
anymore. He needed to reach the bank to prevent tragedy. It was all part
of his life as the guy who got tomorrow's newspaper today.
Tomorrow's newspaper today delivered by a cat. Wonder what Oprah would have
to say about that?
The End.