After two weeks of writing about my present day activities,
I think it’s time I dredge up some story from the past. Wait, that makes it
sound like I’m digging up dirt on myself, which I’m definitely NOT going to do.
Not that I don’t have such stories. I do. Plenty. I’m just not going to write
about them!
Okay, now that that’s settled, where was I? Oh yeah, the
skeleton that I once kept in my closet. And sorry to disappoint anyone but that
word, skeleton, isn’t a metaphoric representation of some big bad secret. I had
actual bones, a full set. And no, it wasn’t a lab model. It was a real live
skeleton! Okay, probably not “live.” I’m sure the creature that once used the
bones was quite dead.
As you probably guessed, the skeleton wasn’t of the human
variety. I’m not sure what is was—a small animal of some sort—but definitely
not human. (I’m not really a psycho). Whatever it was, I found it while
“exploring” outside one day and brought it into the house—for safe-keeping, I
suppose. I know I said it wasn’t a big bad secret but I did try to keep it
hidden—mainly from my mother. Had she discovered the skeleton, I think she
would have quickly disposed of it. So, I kept it out of sight.
Back then, our family used to take long road trips, and usually,
we didn’t stop for a motel, we just kept driving. (No surprise I’m now a truck
driver). My dad, in order to stay awake, would listen to talk shows on the
radio. In those days there were only two: Larry King and the Night Caps. Since
I’ve always had an aversion to sleeping, I was usually awake and listening too.
I’m not sure which of the shows it was and I have no idea
now what they were discussing but I remember the guy on the radio saying,
“Everybody’s got a skeleton or two in their closet.”
Everybody? So why was I trying to hide mine? Oh
yeah, my Mother! Then, I started wondering why I’d never seen any skeletons
in anyone else’s closet. You got to remember I was pretty young at the time and
had never heard that particular phrase before.
Well, after that, I decided to get rid of the skeleton.
Didn’t want to be like everybody else! But being a kid, by the time we got
home, I’d forgotten all about it. Didn’t think of it again until we moved a
couple of years later. As I was packing, my dad came into my room and seeing
the skeleton, asked what I was doing with it.
By this time, I was a little more familiar with the English
language, idioms in particular. I said to my dad, “Doesn’t everybody have a
skeleton in their closet?”
He laughed but said I still needed to get rid of it, which I
did—I stashed it in a partially hidden cubby hole in the closet. Yeah, the same
closet, in the house we were moving out of. Hey, someone new was going to move
in and to paraphrase an old saying, “Everyone needs a skeleton in their closet!”
~
Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen
books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead
Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, and
The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook and paperback on iTunes,
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, or at www.bruceabordersbooks.weebly.com.
Amazon Profile - http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS.
Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.
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