The Hunt – Chapter 1 -3

Chapter One – The Invitation

3.

  As Fred opened the door, he heard his wife yell at him from the depths of their home,

  “Honey, you got a postcard in the mail!”

  Fred put his briefcase down by the door and headed through the living room to the coffee table that was placed in front of his spot on the couch.  Sitting on top of a few envelopes was a post card.  Alverta entered the room from the dining room with a towel drying her hands.  He changed his direction from the couch toward his wife, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.  She pushed him back and smiled.

  “I missed you, too.”

  “Yeah, I did miss you too.  It was a crazy day at school.  Let me just look at you for a minute.”

  Alverta stepped back and Fred looked.  She was just as beautiful as the day they first met in college.  Tall with dark brown hair that normally touched her shoulders but today it is pulled back into a ponytail.  She is wearing a t-shirt that said Best Mom Ever and blue jeans.  Her eyes were a brown-green mix, the same ones that hooked him all those years ago and they are smiling at him now.   He stepped forward to embrace her once again, but she pushed him back.

  “Nope, it is my turn to look at you,”

  Fred complied and stepped back.  He wore a suit today, the dark gray one she got him for special occasions, a white shirt with his St. Louis Blues tie adorned with the Blue Note logo of his favorite team.  His dark brown hair was graying but he still liked it long, to his shoulders.  His eyes matched hers with the same brown-green mix, and they were smiling at her, too.  He is shorter than her by a few inches, but she never seemed to care and neither did he.  This time she stepped toward him and embraced him.

  “I love you Freddie and I see you wore my favorite tie.  Let’s Go Blues,”  she said as she kissed him.

  When the kiss ended and still holding her in his arms, Fred looked at her and smiled.

  “I love you, too.  What are the kids up to?”

  “You know it is spring sports, Michael is at baseball practice and Susan is running track.”

  Michael and Susan are their 17 year old twins, who fight over who gets the car on Saturday night but end up going out together.  They both favor Alverta, tall with dark brown hair.  The funny thing about them is that their eyes are a sharp crystal blue so opposite their parents.

  “So, Al, we are all alone in this big house?” he quizzed her, hopefully.

  “We are,” she whispered.  “But before you whisk me off to the bedroom, I am so curious about that postcard.”

  “Oh, yeah, I completely forgot about it,” Fred replied and turned back toward the couch with Alverta following him.

  They both sat on the couch in their assigned seats next to each other and Fred reached for the postcard.