Tommy the Tube

Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 91

 

 

The door to the club bangs open. Tommy walks in and begins shouting before he’s in the joint.

“Yo! Listen up, people. My name is Tommy, and I’m looking for my twin brother, Timmy. If any of you’s know where he is, you’d better tell me.”

Nellie rolls her eyes.

Sheila sees Nellie and says, “It’s sad. Isn’t it? Every day it’s the same thing with this guy.”

Nellie nods in agreement.

---

There but for the grace of God, they both think at the same time.

Tommy resumes his daily ritual of questioning everyone.

Seeing that he’s starting on their side of the room today, Sheila quickly finishes her drink and leaves a tip on the table for the server.

“I can’t do this again today. See you tomorrow, kiddo,” Sheila says to Nellie, then she walks out of the club.

Poor guy, she thinks. Then she remembers her sister, Shannon. She knows what Tommy is going through. He needs to accept the truth.

Nellie considers getting out like Sheila did, but then her mind went to her missing sister, Nora. When they were young, they were inseparable. Maybe because they were identical twins, but they liked to sleep in each other’s arms, tightly entwined in the dark together.

---

Tommy is just getting going now. He’s telling everyone about his parents Terry and Tina. One day Terry went missing, and Tina never recovered from her grief.

Everyone in the bar is united by one thing. They have all lost a sibling.

But, in his grief, perhaps, Tommy always gets one thing wrong with his story.

Tommy was a tube, Nellie was a knee-high, and Sheila was a mid-calf length.

Tommy’s brother isn’t the one who went missing; he is. This is the land of the missing socks.