Vic grabbed the whammy bar with a shaking hand for the last sustains. Fingers aching from ten minutes of full-out play in expert mode, he clicked madly through the bonus and nailed the concluding chord. The adrenaline in his body squeezed his throat so tight that he had to force the air in. He concentrated on that, letting the guitar fall and dangle from the strap around his neck. His score came up on screen. “Jesus Christ,” he whispered.
He pressed his sweaty palms against the Alice in Chains T-shirt his half-brother Kurt had given him. Kurt. Vic tore the plastic Rock Band guitar off his neck and hunted in the closet. In the pile of papers and clothes on the top shelf, he found his fifth-grade math notebook, which had some blank pages in the back. Vic ran out to the hall to get the pen from by the phone.
“Don’t slam doors!” his dad yelled from the kitchen.
“Okay!”
Vic was back on his bed, taking deep breaths and trying to hold his hands steady. “Hey Kurt,” he wrote. “I got 100% on expert on ‘Green Grass and High Tides’. You said you’d buy me a real electric if I did! Hope you’re all right. Your brother, Vic.” He ripped the paper out, folded it, and shoved it in his pocket.
He went back out to the hall, careful not to slam the door this time. His mom was making his dad a cup of coffee. Vic could see her purse on the nightstand in their bedroom. He went in quietly and rummaged through it. She had to have stamps in there.
“Ashley,” his dad said in a dangerous voice, “go see what he’s doing in the bedroom.”
Vic jumped and backed away from the purse, knocking it over. Cursing, he tried to scoop its contents back in, but, of course, there was no time. His mother appeared in the doorway, looking tired as always. She tucked a limp strand of graying blonde hair behind her ear and gave him her disappointed look.
“What does he want, Ashley?” his dad roared.
“Please, Mom,” Vic said. “I need a stamp now. And an envelope.”
She closed her eyes and put her hand to her face. “He wants a stamp, Ryan. I’ll get him a stamp and then come right back.”
Vic wanted to tell her what had happened. He couldn’t remember ever having been this happy. But she didn’t understand games. He stepped out of the way and waited. Her hand closed on a book of Love stamps. Just then, his dad’s chair scraped over the kitchen tile. Vic and his mom exchanged nervous glances as his dad’s heavy step headed their way.
“What do you need to send a letter for? Let me see the letter.”
“I haven’t written it yet,” Vic said.
The floor seemed to move when his dad slapped him. “I see it sticking out of your pocket. Don’t lie to me.”
“Ryan, don’t hit him,” Vic’s mom said.
“Shut up,” Vic’s dad said, shoving her out of the way and onto the floor. He snatched the letter out of Vic’s pocket and read it.
His mom had started sobbing on the floor, but even she stopped when she saw his dad’s face. “Kurt?” Vic’s dad seemed to grow a foot wider. He crumpled the letter into a ball and beamed Vic in the chest with it. “You’re writing to Kurt?” He strode toward Vic’s room.
“No!” Vic said, not even sure what was going to happen. “Dad! Wait!”
“You want a guitar?” Vic’s dad said. “I’ll give you a guitar.” He grabbed the plastic guitar and brought it down over Vic’s Play Station once, hard. The TV screen went dark.
“Dad!”
Vic watched as his dad snapped the guitar in half over his knee and threw the pieces on the floor at Vic’s feet. “There’s your guitar,” he said. “There’s a guitar for you.”
Vic’s mom ran into the room. Vic avoided her. It would make him cry if she touched him.
His dad curled his lip at her. “You can go stay with Kurt, if you love him so much. You take your sons. I don’t have any sons.”
“Vic is your son!” she shouted.
His dad’s eyes narrowed. “That’s what you’ve always said. But you said you weren’t even in touch with Kurt. You said Vic didn’t even know about him.”
“I’m supposed to just forget about my other son because he’s not yours?”
He took one menacing step toward her. “No. You just get out. Take your son with you.”
Vic kept his eyes on the floor, on the pieces of the guitar. Maybe, he thought, Kurt could fix it if they went to stay with him. He picked them up.
She was sobbing bitterly now. She took Vic’s hand. Were they going to live with Kurt in St. Pete? Wild elation rose from deep in his gut. His dad wouldn’t let them pack, and so the two walked out to her old Toronado. His mom clutched her purse numbly. Vic still had the broken guitar.
They got in the car. They left the driveway. Vic saw the house get smaller behind him. He saw it disappear behind a tangle of thick, green trees. “Call Kurt, Mom,” he said. “Call Kurt.” But she pulled the car over and pressed her forehead against the steering wheel. She took out her cell phone and dialed.
“Ryan,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. Please let us come home. I won’t let Vic see Kurt again.” The whammy bar came off the broken guitar and into Vic’s hand. He tried to remember how that song had felt, when he was bringing that ending home to perfect.
Erica Naone is an assistant editor at Technology Review, where she covers topics related to the Internet and computer software. Her fiction has appeared in Coyote Wild, Storyglossia, and On The Premises. She lives with her husband in Allston, MA, and spends much of her free time playing Dungeons and Dragons.
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25 Responses to “HOME TO PERFECT • by Erica Naone”
Comments
« A STORY FOR RICHARD, INVOLVING BEDPOSTS, CHE GUEVARA, AND CHOCOLATE GANACHE • by Sarah Black | Home | THE THIRTEENTH STEP • by Richard M. O’Donnell »
March 24th, 2009 at 12:55 am
That didn’t put a step wrong and I found it depressing on so many levels, which I’m sure was the plan. Really well done but SO not my idea of fun.
March 24th, 2009 at 3:49 am
Wow. So sad and real. I liked this a lot.
March 24th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Nicely done. Would have liked to have seen more about Vic’s brief hope for a new life with his brother, but it’s well-written and well-told nonetheless.
March 24th, 2009 at 5:18 am
[...] a really long time since I’ve posted, but I wanted to quickly mention that my story, “Home to Perfect,” is up on Every Day Fiction. To everyone coming in from that site, thanks so much for [...]
March 24th, 2009 at 5:59 am
Well written, involving the reader in the emotions of the contentious episode. It might or might not be part of a longer story which would answer the questions raised in the reader, but it makes a whole in itself, a glimpse into an emotional scene of constricting family power play.
March 24th, 2009 at 6:12 am
5/5 from me. Very well done! Hard hitting (no pun intended) and emotional! A great piece of flash. This is why I keep coming back for more!
March 24th, 2009 at 7:23 am
What a powerful story. I can only hope that Vic knows the uplifting lyrics to “Green Grass and High Tides” as well as he knows the game’s button presses.
From the final verse:
“Those who don’t believe me find your souls and set them free.
“Those who do, believe and love as time will be your key.
“Time and time again I’ve thanked them for a peace of mind.
“They helped me find myself amongst the music and the rhyme that enchants you there.”
-Hughie Thomasson (1952-2007)
March 24th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Hello all, and thanks for reading and for the comments. I love Deven’s point about the lyrics. I imagine that Vic has been taking refuge in the game for many months, and in “Green Grass and High Tides” in particular. I chose that song because I take refuge in it myself (and because it’s really, really difficult in Rock Band, and would reward months of playing). As I’ve played the song, both in the game and as the soundtrack for writing and editing this story, I’ve been aware of certain lines that move me — the beginning for instance: “In a place you only dream of, where your soul is always free…” It wasn’t until Deven pointed them out, though, that I read through the lyrics in one block and saw how well they speak to Vic’s situation. Thanks so much for that.
March 24th, 2009 at 10:22 am
This story is really sad and poignant. I don’t know that I could say I enjoyed it, because it’s so sad, but I thought it was really well done.
March 24th, 2009 at 10:23 am
The feelings of fear and loss and the rise and fall of hope are palpable. A tense, tight story. Well done, Erica. Looking forward to reading more from you.
March 24th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Sad tale told very well.
–dj
March 24th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Very well written. The characters seem so real; you just want to try to somehow make everything alright, even though it could never be. Great job.
March 25th, 2009 at 2:24 am
Erin said – “This story is really sad and poignant. I don’t know that I could say I enjoyed it, because it’s so sad, but I thought it was really well done.”
Not just me then. That’s exactly how I felt. I’m still thinking about it a day later which doesn’t usually happen.
March 25th, 2009 at 5:59 am
Very, very painful. But excellent.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Eh…some odd constructions and little mistakes that kept distracting me from the story: “Vic’s dad seemed to grow a foot wider.” What does that mean? It should be “beaned” not “beamed”. And this story is clearly told from Vic’s POV, so why “Vic’s” this and “Vic’s” that so often? It was distancing. Not a single thought from Vic about his father. We are in his head about the game, but not much else.
Better than much of the fare presented on EDF, but not a five star effort, imo.
March 25th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
A wonderfully written story. I really would’ve liked to have seen the mother and Vic take off to go live with Kurt and be happy, but abuse is a cycle and it’s far more realistic that the abused go back to the abuser.
I think it’s a credit to the amazing eriting that I want to see Vic and his mother happy. I gave it a five.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Well written piece about the sadder side of human life. :~(
March 26th, 2009 at 3:12 am
Nice depiction of the family scene..
March 26th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Ouch, this story is so real, so poignant.
Nice work!
November 9th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
[...] along with the song. Vintage, for example, I wrote while listening to “Immortality.” Home to Perfect is, of course, “Green Grass and High [...]
January 21st, 2010 at 9:11 pm
[...] 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment My story, “Home to Perfect,” has been included in the Best of Every Day Fiction Two anthology. The book is now available [...]
February 24th, 2010 at 4:02 am
[...] an example, I thought I’d describe the process I used to write “Home to Perfect,” a flash piece published in the Best of Every Day Fiction Two anthology. This story took me a [...]
April 21st, 2010 at 7:41 am
[...] is not my favorite story in the volume. That honor goes to Erica Naone’s heartrending tale “Home to Perfect”, which should be read with The Outlaw’s “Green Grass and High Tides” playing in [...]
March 10th, 2011 at 12:45 am
[...] is not my favorite story in the volume. That honor goes to Erica Naone’s heartrending tale “Home to Perfect”, which should be read with The Outlaw’s “Green Grass and High Tides” playing in the [...]
March 10th, 2011 at 12:45 am
[...] is not my favorite story in the volume. That honor goes to Erica Naone’s heartrending tale “Home to Perfect”, which should be read with The Outlaw’s “Green Grass and High Tides” playing in the [...]