{"id":6632,"date":"2014-02-27T00:00:23","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T05:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/home\/?p=6632"},"modified":"2014-02-27T15:25:12","modified_gmt":"2014-02-27T20:25:12","slug":"sibling-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/sibling-reunion\/","title":{"rendered":"Sibling Reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SiblingsReunion\"<\/a><\/p>\n

They’re getting older,<\/b><\/p>\n

five\u00a0brothers and sisters,<\/b><\/p>\n

all\u00a0with degrees, jobs,\u00a0families,\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

nice homes,\u00a0good lives,\u00a0happier\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

than most\u00a0except\u00a0when\u00a0they must\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

fly to the home of their childhood\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

and settle their mother’s estate.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

They gather in\u00a0the old\u00a0stucco\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

none\u00a0of them\u00a0is\u00a0willing to sell.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

They drink bourbon\u00a0and scotch\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

and tell\u00a0each other\u00a0everything again<\/b><\/p>\n

that happened\u00a0when\u00a0they were young,\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

what made them take\u00a0planes anywhere<\/b><\/p>\n

trying to escape and forget.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

A few more drinks\u00a0and they see\u00a0the\u00a0bees\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

swarming\u00a0the day\u00a0Mom\u00a0knocked the hive\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

out of the willow\u00a0with her clothesline pole.<\/b><\/p>\n

They were young, not yet in school,\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

happy and laughing,\u00a0clapping but\u00a0not\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

understanding\u00a0why Father was gone,\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

why\u00a0he would call\u00a0but\u00a0never come home.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

All summer\u00a0they\u00a0rode\u00a0tricycles\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

into each other,\u00a0yelling and screaming,\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

ringing the bells\u00a0on the\u00a0handlebars,<\/b><\/p>\n

trying to figure\u00a0out\u00a0what had happened.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Another few drinks\u00a0and\u00a0they agree\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

it’s time to go out in the yard\u00a0and\u00a0look up\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

in the tree\u00a0where the hive used to be.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Once again they hear\u00a0children<\/b><\/p>\n

yelling and screaming,\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

riding\u00a0into each other,\u00a0ringing\u00a0bells,\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

looking everywhere for answers,\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

not knowing\u00a0the questions.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

In minutes they realize the reunion’s over<\/b><\/p>\n

and there may never be another.<\/b><\/p>\n

It’s time to pack, get on planes, escape<\/b><\/p>\n

before someone puts a match to the stucco.<\/b><\/p>\n

The hive’s on the ground bouncing\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

and they’re all\u00a0bees,\u00a0swarming\u00a0again.<\/b><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes, Donal Mahoney\u00a0has had poetry and fiction published in print and electronic publications in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Some of his earliest work can be found at\u00a0http:\/\/booksonblog12.blogspot.com\/<\/a><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They’re getting older,<\/p>\n

five brothers and sisters,<\/p>\n

all with degrees, jobs, families, <\/p>\n

nice homes, good lives, happier <\/p>\n

than most except when they must <\/p>\n

fly to the home of their childhood <\/p>\n

and settle their mother’s estate.<\/p>\n

READ MORE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":184,"featured_media":6863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,218,219,199],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6632"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/184"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6632"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6866,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6632\/revisions\/6866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}