What Gilbert Didn't Eat

What Gilbert didn’t eat

At age 14 Misty had everything she could hope for. A loving family. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom and her father an engineer and they did everything they could for her. She was a good kid in school, had good grades and was one of the popular kids. She had all the friends she could hope for.

When she arrived home from school, she quickly went to her chores. The old barn is where her favorite horse was at. Misty let the horse out and went to petting on old Gilbert. She had grown up with him. Taking care of him along the way and the two were inseparable. If she wasn’t busy with friends or school, she spent most of her time in the barn with him. Sometimes she would just lay around daydream about the day and life. But she loved that horse.

Just as Misty had finished feeding the animals her mother called her up for supper. She could smell her favorite meal of spaghetti from the barn. They all sat down for dinner and started eating. Her father a tall man being an engineer was involved in so many things. A jack of all trades really. Always working but providing for the family and ensuring they had what they needed. Sometimes he would work until after everyone was in bed and leave before anyone woke up. He would visit each kid’s room and give them a kiss goodbye as he left for the day.

Edward was the bratty brother. She always hated having to sit next to him. He would ask 1000 questions about everything. Very inquisitive but very annoying. They didn’t have the same goals or hobbies. When her friends would come over, they would ensure to stay as far away from him as they could. If he ever came around, he would never leave. Just asking questions about things that had been answered 100 times. He was her brother. Smart as well, just went about his life differently. Probably most of the reason Misty loved to hang out in the barn.

Tabitha was only 3. The youngest of the three, she kept her mother very busy, which was good for Misty. She didn’t have mom always keeping up with her so she could hang out with friends. Tabitha having been born when Misty was 11, Misty loved her sister and babysitting when mom needed a break. Why couldn’t Edward be like this? She laughed as she remembered Edward in diapers trying to crawl after her when she was 7.

Dinner was finished and it was time to go study. Her favorite tranquil place was calling, and she knew she could finish her algebra homework in the barn. Gilbert may brush up against her every now and then, but he would mostly keep watch or go out to the field and eat.

The alarm clock buzzing she remember 30 minutes earlier; her father had come in and gave her the routine kiss on the forehead. She slowly woke up headed to the bathroom for her morning shower only to find her annoying brother hanging out in there. She went back to her room but instead of plopping down on her bed, she decided on getting her clothes ready for school. When she finished headed back to the bathroom grabbed Edward pushed him out of the bathroom and locked the door behind her. About the only thing she wanted that she didn’t have was her own bathroom.

On the way to school thankful that Edward was dropped off first, Misty asked, Mom, “was Edward dropped on his head when he was little?” Mom spewing her Bang energy drink laughed. “No honey, he wasn’t, he gets that from Clyde.” Clyde was our uncle, Dad’s brother. Oh yeah, he was very much like Edward. Asking questions. When he didn’t like the answer, he would ask it a different way or try to do something to trip you up into answering in a specific way. Just as annoying as Edward.

Misty asked if they could get a Starbucks on the way to school. She loved getting her favorite drink. A white chocolate mocha Frappuccino with one shot of espresso. When she got her drink, she made a motion like she was going to give Tabitha a drink. Mom hurriedly said, “please don’t, she will be bouncing off the walls if you do that.” They both just laughed. Then mom said, “thank goodness Edward is already at school. We don’t need him drinking that going to school. He would drive the teacher crazier than he already does.” They laughed. As they pulled up to the school, Misty’s best friend Amanda was nearby and ran over to greet her. They had been close friends since kindergarten.

They shared their love of playing softball. They would always be at the barn practicing using that old barn as a backstop. You can still see the indentions where the softball would hit the barn. Amanda was a good pitcher and would probably go onto play at the collegiate level. They hurried on into school to get to their seats. Johnny was always late and while everyone laughed when he entered class late, all the girls would swoon over him, make googly eyes and forget where they were. Typical bad boy, he knew it, the girls knew it, and the teacher knew it. Another tardy for Johnny.

The school day went on as normal. Easy for Misty and Amanda. They loved being there but then it was time to go home. Nothing horrible though, it was time to go hang out with Gilbert and enjoy some peace and quiet. As they got home, something was different though. Her father was at home. Completely out of character for him. They were back by the barn and Misty had this gut feeling like something was wrong. She jumped out of the car and ran to the barn. Her dad caught her and said no not right now. Misty screamed “GILBERT’ and he carried her into the house.

She was crying uncontrollably. Gilbert had been with them before she was born. Who is ever ready for a friend to die? Her dad was holding on to her tightly and tried to console her, but all Misty wanted to do was go be with Gilbert. After some time, they went out there together. She curled up on a hay bale next to Gilbert and wept. She pulled a sheet over her head and slept there all night.

The next morning, they went to go check on her. They knelt beside her and pulled back the sheet. When they did, they found Misty with a book about horses clenched in her hand and she was gone, tears had dried on her cheek. She had overdosed on heroin and pain pills sometime overnight right next to the Starbucks. Her family didn’t even come to identify the body. As they had lived life ignoring her, they did so in death as well. There would be no funeral for her, no friends, no family, and hardly anyone knew she was gone. Yet a lone man was out there when she was lowered into the ground. Two souls walked away and disappeared into the mist.