Graduation Day: A Short Story

Ben felt like he was floating on a cloud. While he slept, he felt so free, as if he hadn't a worry in the world. Suddenly, the roar of a passing bus on the street jolted him awake. He stretched, yawned and propped himself up on his elbow. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so rested. Ben wondered why his alarm hadn't gone off. He glanced at the clock and almost fell on the floor. "Oh crap!" he said. "8:30?" He half sprinted, half jumped towards his mother's room and flung open the door. "Mom. Mom," Ben shouted, "grad starts in half an hour." He started to explain about his alarm not working right, but she cut him off in mid sentence. "Oh my god. Get your good clothes on and I'll make you a piece of toast or something. What in the world am I going to do with my hair? Oh, and can you call Grandma when you're dressed?" Ben was dressed within about a minute. It was amazing how fast he could get something done when he had to. Of course it would take a bit of time to tie his tie, but he'd worry about that later. Ben dialed the phone hesitantly, knowing the conversation wouldn't be easy. "Hi Grandma, its Ben." "Who?" said his Grandma in a loud voice. "It's Ben. Your grandson." "Oh Ben. Where are you? You're late." "Yeah I know. We overslept, so you're going to have to take a cab." "Take a stab? A stab at what? You know me. I'll try anything." "No, a cab. You need to take a cab to meet us at the church." "Oh well, okay. I'll do what I have to do. There's no way I'm missing your graduation." "Okay Grandma, see you there." "My hair? Of course I'm going to do my hair." "Bye Grandma," said Ben exasperatedly and hung up the phone. He looked over at the clock again: 8:45. Ben rushed into the kitchen to see if he could hurry his mother along, but she was nowhere to be found. He poked his head out the door and scanned the driveway. He was surprised to see his mom waiting impatiently behind the wheel of her car with the motor running. They set off down the street and Ben prayed they wouldn't get a ticket. He knew this grad thing was important to his Mom—and who was he kidding, it was important to him too—but he didn't want them both to be killed just getting there. They rounded a corner onto the main drag. As they drove past the train tracks, Ben noticed it was 9:00: just about the time when the grads were supposed to be lining up. "Please let them be behind schedule," Ben said to himself. "Thank god I have a last name that starts with Z. Hopefully they won't get to my row for a while." It appeared as if luck was on their side. Just as Ben was about to relax, he could see a train chugging along in the distance. At the site of the train, his mom threw her hands up and groaned. After a couple of minutes of heavy breathing and helpless looks at Ben, she finally decided to break the silence. "I've been waiting for this ever since you were born. You've been through 12 years of school, and now because of our stupid clocks and this train, we're both going to miss your graduation. What if you don't get to cross the stage? What are we going to do?" This was the first time today Ben had seen his mom lose her cool, though he didn't blame her for it. "Mom," he said calmly, "I know how you feel. This is important to me too, but complaining about it isn't going to make time go backwards or that train move any faster. Besides, there's like five cars left of the train." "And now we’re going to be almost ten minutes late," she cried. "It's okay," replied Ben. "I always knew there was an advantage to being at the end of the alphabet." His mom smiled as the last train car disappeared from view. She gunned the engine again, and before Ben could tell her to slow down, they had reached the church where Ben's grad was being held. "Quick," she said, "you get out and get in there. I'll find a place to park." Ben did as he was told. He burst through the door and ran straight for the back room off the sanctuary. "What's your name and where have you been?" asked an impatient-looking woman in a business suit with her hair in a bun. "Ben Zanalouski." "Good. We're just getting to the Zs now. What's your gown size?" "Uhhhh ..." "Never mind. This will work. Here's your cap, here's your gown, now get in line." Ben found his place in line and began to march with his fellow graduates. As they filed past the audience, he felt something hanging around his neck; this whole grad ordeal had prevented him from noticing it. He had forgotten to tie his tie.