“Father?”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Prompt: “It is a wise father that knows his own child.” — William Shakespeare

I never knew my father.

He died in a car crash when I was two years old. My mother told me that he had a serious drinking problem and that he had it coming. I have absolutely no recollection of him whatsoever.

So, when a man approached me last Saturday and told me that he was my father, I was confused, to say the least.

I was on my way home from work when my phone rang. I was already expecting a call from my wife, so I answered without looking at the call display.

The following conversation went something like this:

“Hey, honey, I’m almost home.”

“Is this Edward Flinston?”

“… Yes? Who is this?”

“Oh, I’m so glad I found you, son. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“I’m sorry, but can you please tell me your name?”

“Yes, yes, I’m Vincent Ontag, your father.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, you’ve got the wrong number. My father was Rupert Flinston and he died when I was little.”

“No, no, I’m your father! I’ve been looking for you for thirty years.”

“Look, is this a joke? I’m really not in the mood for this right now.”

“No, please son, don’t hang up. At least give me the chance to explain what happened.”

“… You’ve got five minutes.”

“Thank you. Edward, your mother stole you away from me when you were little. She didn’t want me in her life anymore, so she just took off with you while I was away at work.”

“She told me that my father was dangerous.”

“She lied. I wish I could tell you why she wanted to get away from me so badly, but the truth is, I just don’t know.”

“Of course you don’t.”

“Listen, I can prove that I’m your father. We’re alike, you and I, I’m sure of it!”

“We’ve never even met. How can you be so sure that we’re similar?”

“You like peanut butter, but not peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, right?”

“Yes…”

“And you don’t trust zebras because only other zebras can tell them apart, right?

“Yes…”

“Edward, is it not proof enough that we have the most obscure things in common?”

“I guess that is a bit of a coincidence…”

The conversation continued for a bit and it left off with me agreeing to meet him in a public area.

When I told my wife about what had happened, she just sighed and shook her head.

“Go look at your social media,” she sighed. “Honey, you posted those things about yourself last week.”

Of course, that sounded ridiculous. But, sure enough, when I checked, the last few posts I had made were about peanut butter and zebras.

Final Comments: To be honest, I’m not really sure how this prompt got me to this story…

Overall Rating: 🤔