“Mom, what are these flowers?” Seven-year-old Jackson O’Neal lifted the dusty picture frame from the back of the mantle where it sat surrounded by an army of family photos. Inside the frame sat three pressed lilacs of different colors. It was Friday morning, almost time for Samantha to drop Jackson off at school on her way to work at the Shelby County Prosecutor’s Office. Jason had already left for work. On Fridays, he liked to leave a few minutes early so he could stop and buy doughnuts for the staff that worked in his investment banking office.
“What flowers?” Samantha asked as she walked into the den from the kitchen.
Jackson held up the picture frame.
“Ah, those flowers,” she said approaching him. “That is a very long story.” She looked down at her watch for a second. “One that cannot be properly told without this.” From the other end of the mantle she retrieved an old snow globe. Then she pulled her laptop from her attaché case and opened it. “Have a seat.” She patted the couch. Jackson sat beside her.
“Uh, shouldn’t we be leaving for school?” he asked. Samantha only smiled.
“It won’t kill you to be late for school. I’m not due in court until this afternoon. I can manage a morning off. This is important.”
She could see Jackson was intrigued. Sam watched his intrigue turn to confusion when she turned on the computer and navigated to the website where he usually watched online videos of people playing games. She typed in the search bar, “Jason’s Lost His Mind—North American Tour.” A familiar face popped up on the screen.
“I’m sure you recognize that guy,” Sam said.
“Dad? He looks so young.” Samantha heard wonder in the boy’s voice.
Samantha laughed. “Wait until you see your aunt, Charity, in some of these videos.”
“What is this?” Jackson asked.
“This, my son, is how our family’s story was written … on the open road.”
The End