The End of a Rainbow
TULLY GILLAM
'You've been out chasing rainbows again, haven't you!' she cries, her voice sharp with frustration.
Frank stands at the entrance, dripping wet. His fringe lies plastered across his forehead, and his clothes smeared with mud. He looks smaller than usual but lowers his head even further to avoid her stare.
'You're not coming inside like that,' she says, crossing her arms and moving to block his path. 'You'll get dirt all over the place.'
'I almost caught one today,' he mumbles as he glances up through his dripping fringe. His eyes have a flicker of hope, but it's fading fast.
She exhales deeply and runs a hand through her hair. 'Honest to God, Frank, I don't understand why you do this. I'm so sick of you coming home drenched and empty-handed.'
'I'm doing it for you,' he insists. 'For us, for the kids. I'm tired of working myself into the ground, and for what? You want to buy a house? We can't even afford uniforms for the kids. All I want is to catch one rainbow so we can have the life we've always wanted.'
She watches him for a moment, but her shoulders sag, and she turns away. 'So what about us, then? What do we do while you're out there chasing dreams—sit around wasting away? The kids hardly see you anymore; they miss you. I miss you.'
Frank tries taking a hesitant step toward her, but muddy water pools around his boot and seeps into the gaps in the wooden hallway floor. He looks up and meets her gaze, imploring her to understand.
But she tucks her arms in tighter, and her words come with renewed determination. 'No, Frank. I don't want you in our home until you realise what you're doing to us. The more you chase those rainbows, the further away you're getting. Don't come back until you figure that out.'
Her words hit hard. Frank pauses momentarily, then nods and turns reluctantly back into the evening. His footsteps are slow as he trudges, head bowed, down the driveway and onto the rain-slick street. Behind him, light spills from the house's windows and mixes with the misty rain to create a warm, golden aura. It looks very much like the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Tully is a writer with a curious mind. He blends flashes of philosophy with dashes of reality to craft short stories that explore the quirks of human nature and life's big questions. When he's not busy writing, you can find him dreaming about intergalactic space travel and planning his next other-worldly adventure.
