Memories of You
Chapter Three – Ten Years Old
"Dad...please, answer me this time! Please! I just want you to answer my call!" Dib slammed the phone onto the receiver and redialed the number to his dad's office. "Uh! Busy again! Why don't you have the time...?" He gave up trying to call his dad and instead began to write a letter. "You probably won't ever get the time to read this, but who cares?! That's why I'm writing this stupid thing!" Dib angrily typed out his letter on his brand new laptop and clicked the print button as the data was sent from his computer to the printer. The finished letter read:
1 "Dad –
You never get the time to do anything with me or even talk to me! Weeks go by and I don't even see you! That is, unless that stupid floating screen counts! I want to see you, Dad, and I don't think you realize how miserable I am! I hate it at skool! Everyone hates me, and I don't have any friends! I know you don't believe in the paranormal, but at least you should assure me that it'll be okay! But you don't, because you don't get the time.
The reason the kids hate me is because I believe in the paranormal! Don't they see how wrong that is? Don't you see? Everyone thinks I'm insane, including you. But what about the past, Dad? Intelligent people of way back in the past like Einstein were misunderstood. Like me. You know I'm smart. Don't you get it? I deserve the same respect as anyone else, even if I was stupid. If it was generally accepted that aliens, ghosts, and Bigfoot exist, and you out of very few people in the world, believed they didn't, wouldn't you want the same respect as people like me who do believe in them?
Please Dad, please acknowledge me. I really do love you. I just want to get to know you. I want to feel like you're alive. It's been tough without Mom, and if you're here, things will be a lot better and my life would be so much more pleasant. I really hate to be alone. Please, just listen to my thoughts. If you don't, I think I really will go insane.
Sincerely,
Your loving son, Dib"
Dib enclosed the letter in an envelope and labeled it: To Dad, From Dib With Love. He placed it on his dad's most used filing cabinet with a magnet that read: 'My Wonderful Father' that he had given to him for Father's Day the previous year. And as he had presumed, his father never even saw the letter.
Hoping that he'd get the letter and that everything would be fine didn't help much, for Dib knew his dad's record of overlooking important notes he'd left for him. Tucking himself into bed, Dib imagined his mom giving him a kiss goodnight and that everyone was there to make him feel better. He imagined that Gaz was friendly to him and talking to him, his mother hugging and reassuring him, and his father actually listening to his ideas. It was with these thoughts that he fell asleep, but the unsettling knowledge that things would never be that way made him whimper a little before waking.
Chapter Three – Ten Years Old
"Dad...please, answer me this time! Please! I just want you to answer my call!" Dib slammed the phone onto the receiver and redialed the number to his dad's office. "Uh! Busy again! Why don't you have the time...?" He gave up trying to call his dad and instead began to write a letter. "You probably won't ever get the time to read this, but who cares?! That's why I'm writing this stupid thing!" Dib angrily typed out his letter on his brand new laptop and clicked the print button as the data was sent from his computer to the printer. The finished letter read:
1 "Dad –
You never get the time to do anything with me or even talk to me! Weeks go by and I don't even see you! That is, unless that stupid floating screen counts! I want to see you, Dad, and I don't think you realize how miserable I am! I hate it at skool! Everyone hates me, and I don't have any friends! I know you don't believe in the paranormal, but at least you should assure me that it'll be okay! But you don't, because you don't get the time.
The reason the kids hate me is because I believe in the paranormal! Don't they see how wrong that is? Don't you see? Everyone thinks I'm insane, including you. But what about the past, Dad? Intelligent people of way back in the past like Einstein were misunderstood. Like me. You know I'm smart. Don't you get it? I deserve the same respect as anyone else, even if I was stupid. If it was generally accepted that aliens, ghosts, and Bigfoot exist, and you out of very few people in the world, believed they didn't, wouldn't you want the same respect as people like me who do believe in them?
Please Dad, please acknowledge me. I really do love you. I just want to get to know you. I want to feel like you're alive. It's been tough without Mom, and if you're here, things will be a lot better and my life would be so much more pleasant. I really hate to be alone. Please, just listen to my thoughts. If you don't, I think I really will go insane.
Sincerely,
Your loving son, Dib"
Dib enclosed the letter in an envelope and labeled it: To Dad, From Dib With Love. He placed it on his dad's most used filing cabinet with a magnet that read: 'My Wonderful Father' that he had given to him for Father's Day the previous year. And as he had presumed, his father never even saw the letter.
Hoping that he'd get the letter and that everything would be fine didn't help much, for Dib knew his dad's record of overlooking important notes he'd left for him. Tucking himself into bed, Dib imagined his mom giving him a kiss goodnight and that everyone was there to make him feel better. He imagined that Gaz was friendly to him and talking to him, his mother hugging and reassuring him, and his father actually listening to his ideas. It was with these thoughts that he fell asleep, but the unsettling knowledge that things would never be that way made him whimper a little before waking.