Monday Finish the Story. Hosted by Barbara W. Beacham

Feeling the Music © JLeahy

“Are you laughing at me?” Enoch asked me. His voice quivered and softened at the end of his question. Self pity.

“No! I love the orchids. They are beautiful.”

I looked at him, the sincerity in his large brown eyes made me want to laugh again, but I stopped myself. Without the harshness of the piercings in his nose and above his brows, and his terrible haircut, you could call him handsome.

“How did you afford this?”

“Oh, I had some money; my casual job.”

I looked at this 18-year-old boy and wondered what his parents would think, especially his mother – if she knew he was chasing his middle-aged music teacher. I held the orchids closer and observed the silky tenderness in its intricate layers of petals. I knew these flowers so well.

Each morning, I admired them as I passed the flowers at the front of the principal’s office.

(150 words)