The Lie Behind the Postcard - The 5:30 a.m. stranger
Ennis Del Mar wakes before five, wind rocking the trailer, hissing around the aluminum door and window frames. The shirts hanging on a nail shudder slightly in the draft. Always the same cycle, everyday the same his only relieve is Jack Twist……
But what would happen if what you believe to be true suddenly shatters? that everything that you’ve lived for is not true. What would happen if you discover that your dreams are based in a lie?
It is December of the year 1990 and Ennis Del Mar is as always on his trailer drinking his daily cup of coffee, once again the ranch owners went back again, once again he’s with no job. While he takes his cup of coffee he sees the lights of a car landing next to his trailer. Ennis is surprised it is 5:30am now and he don’t have the minimum idea of who could be. He gets close to the window and he sees a woman coming out of the car, is Junior, his beloved daughter his first one. But what she’s doing here so early and why she has that face she looks worried, she looks scared.
“Daddy ya’re there?” his daughter said shaking of the cold or at least is what Ennis thought.
Ennis hurried up to put a shirt on and open the door to talk with his daughter, he was worried about her and he wanted to know what she was doing there so early.
“Daddy?” she called again this time she was knocking the door.
“Jesus H., was here all the time! Was just putting a shirt Junior, What brings ya’ here at 5:30 am” he said looking at her with a questioning expression.
“It’s Mom, Daddy, is Mom” she started crying and ran into his dad arms and hug him.
“ Alma? What happened to yer mom?” he asked scared while he was holding his daughter who was unable to talk because of her still crying
“It’s Mom, Daddy, it is mom!” she kept repeating those words, while she was trying to talk but her pain and suffer were not letting her to talk.
“Whoa, whoa, Junior, calm down please!” Ennis said while he looked at his daughter who was trying to calm down.
It was close to 6:00 am when Junior, as he called used to call her, was able calm down, she was still shaking and trying to take a cup of coffee.
“Now Junior, explain me what’s going with yer mom?” he said as he served more coffee to Junior
“Daddy was horrible, we were at the house yesterday and she was talking to us when she collapsed and started shaking, I was so scared that I called the Dr.Hafeitz and Kurt took the car and we took her to the hospital. Jenny, Monroe and Monroe Jr. arrived later. The Doctor told us that it was a Heart attack and that mom was critical” she said crying and using her hands to clean her tears
“It’s my fault, I shouldn’t ask! But I want to understand I need to know!” she added that phrase twice.
“Did yer mom had a heart attack? Why is yer fault? Look Junior it can’t be yer fault it can’t!” he said while he was hugging his daughter.
“Yes it is daddy I shouldn’t ask about him” she said, Ennis thought that he knew what happened but he still wanted to know.
“Who ya’ asked about?” he said while his voice was breaking.
“I asked about him, about yer friend Jack Twist”