A Short Story by John Daly

Copyright © 2009 by John Daly
This revised version was originally published in The Fiction Writer and Other Short Stories, which is copyright © 2007 by John Daly. No part of this story may be used without permission of the Author.

David rushed into his house and swept Janet up into his arms and kissed her passionately.
“David what are you doing?,” she said laughing.

“I’m kissing my beautiful wife whom I love with all my heart,” he answered.

“Where have you been? Whose truck is that? What do you have in your hand?”

“That my dear is a check for $1000 which I am handing over to you. If everything goes the way I think it will it won’t be the last check either. Sit down; you won’t believe what I am going to tell you.”

And so David told her. And then he told it to her all over again because she had so many questions and because at first his words came tumbling out so fast that they made no sense. Then Janet began to cry. When she had finished crying, she began to laugh, which made David laugh. Then they both became hysterical laughing. When that finally ended, Janet began to cry again.

“Oh David, I knew something good would eventually happen,” she said. “I never lost faith in you.”

“I know you didn’t. That’s what kept me going. I couldn’t have done it without you, dear heart.”

As he held his wife close, David could see Magic at the other end of the room silently watching them.

“Did you have anything to do with this?,” David asked him. “I think you had a lot to do with it. I just don’t know what or how.”

Magic just smiled and wagged his tail.

(To be continued…)