Ambridge, Pennsylvania
Congratulations Alicia!
Alicia’s Bio:
Alicia Stankay has a background in writing children's short stories. After winning the Grand Prize in a Children's Writer contest in 2006, she published her first adult short story in the Taproot Literary Review contest, placing third. Bit by the contest bug, she continues to enter and occasionally win, much to her delight. She has also written three young adult mystery books, which are in search of a publisher. Alicia lives in Ambridge, PA with her supportive husband, and with frequent visits from her adult children and young grandson.
Thanks for the Memories
Stopping the car, I pointed to the pontoon boat on Paradise Lake, crowing, "Ta-dum!" I peered over my shoulder at my puzzled-looking parents in the back seat.
"The lake’s very pretty, Janice," Mom responded, nudging my father.
"Beautiful," Dad said obediently.
Disappointment flooded over me as I pointed again. "Don’t you see the pontoon boat? Remember that wonderful day we spent chugging around on the water?"
Mom’s face cleared and she nodded. "You must have been about ten. I barely remember coming here myself."
"More likely you tried to block it out." Dad frowned.
Confused about their reaction to a place that had given me so many happy hours of contemplation, I suggested stepping out of the car. The breeze caught my hair and I felt twenty-five years melt away.
"I remember gliding across the lake with the sun on my face, the fish jumping, and the birds flying overhead. It was heaven."
Mom patted my arm. "You certainly did have sun on your face. You wouldn’t stay under the awning, and you turned beet red that night and couldn’t even sleep."
"Sure the fish were jumping. But it was just a tease because I never caught one all day." Dad shook his head at the memory.
Now I was frowning.
"Then the thunderstorm hit," Dad continued.
"I don’t remember a storm," Mom murmured.
"Probably blocked that out, too. We limped back to the dock just as the storm ended and the sun came out."
Dad wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "That’s when our darling daughter convinced us to stay on the lake since our time wasn’t up yet." He paused. "Then I let you drive the boat and you rammed us onto a sandbar."
"I remember how proud I was when you gave me the chance to drive, but..."
"My mistake," Dad continued. "When I got out to push the boat off the sandbar, you gunned it and I fell face first into the water. Just when I was finally getting dry, too."
"It was all right, though, since it was really hot and steamy after all that rain," Mom said, trying to make light of my blunder.
"Actually, it wasn’t all right." Dad dropped his arm and moved away from me.
"Because that made us late getting back by five minutes. The rental guy wanted to charge us the extra hourly rate of ten dollars." Dad’s face reddened at the memory.
"Oh, I remember that." Now Mom’s face was getting red. "You argued with that man for so long that I thought he was going to call the police. I was so embarrassed."
I left them bickering about paying that stupid extra ten dollars and marched to the back of the car. Opening the trunk, I began unloading supplies.
"What are you doing?" Dad demanded.
Looking at their flushed faces, I said defiantly, "I rented that pontoon boat for the day so that we could relive our happy memories."
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