The Runway: A Narrative Fiction

The sisters had not seen their uncles before, all they knew about them were what was written on letters. Peter Wilks, the girls’ dad, wrote good things about his brothers.

As Pa opened the door, his ginger hair and bright green eyes entered my vision. How are his eyes still bright during this storm? He’s the boss of William and Rose. He complained that they haven’t worked in three days. I remember his exact words. “Charles good to see you!” He said to Pa, shaking his hand. “Good to see you too. Why have you stopped by Ry?” Pa replied. “Willy and Rose haven’t worked in three days, and I ain’t gettin’ my money! I’m sure you ain’t gettin’ any money either. May I borrow them for the day?” Pa looked back at William and Rose. They’re faces in fear. Pa nodded, let out a sigh and turned to look back at Ryland. “Yes you may. But please, keep them safe out there and bring them back at 5pm sharp.” I snapped out of my thoughts. “Pa? What time is it?” Pa looked at his watch on his left wrist. “It’s 4:49pm sweetie. Your brother and sister will be here shortly. Well, I hope so.” Pa walked upstairs to talk to Ma and left me sitting there alone, at the kitchen table. About seven minutes later, there’s a knock at the door. I answer it and see a dirt covered William and a dusty covered Rose. “Willy? Rose? Are you guys okay?” I ask as they start walking to the kitchen. “Yes, we’re fine. Just very tired.” Rose says. I look back at the white door and see that I’m still holding it open. Ryland then appears. “Oh, I was expecting your father to be at the door Kathleen!” He let out a little laugh, then coughed. “They both worked very hard today. Well.. just tell your father that they both have four dollars in their hands.” He says. “Will do. See you soon Mr. Masterson.”, I say as I close the door and walk to the kitchen seeing two tired, stressed hard

Johnny walked into the living room, his stomach feeling queasy. His parents look his way in dull manner. They didn’t want Johnny home. They like him out with his friends, not bothering them. Truth is, they felt as if they wouldn’t be good parents even if they tried, so they thought “Why try?” They also didn’t want Johnny to end up like them so, they pushed him away and acted like they couldn’t stand him. Little did they know they were just hurting Johnny by doing so. They had planned to kick Johnny out on this night. They thought he would end up better off with the Greasers. So, when Johnny walked in his mother said, “Go pack your stuff and get out my house.”

The friends of the narrator, however, do not hide in the imaginary world of childhood and are maturing into adolescents. Sally, “ screamed if she got her stockings muddy,” felt they were too old to “ the games” (paragraph 9). Sally stayed by the curb and talked to the boys (paragraph 10).

Phil’s constancy and lack of variation are embodied in rigid words such as “always,” “of course,” and “Type A.” Extreme diction such as “overweight,” “nervous,” and “workaholic” convey Phil as a worrywart with no fun at all in his life. These words mock Phil as a man sincerely obsessed with work that had lost track of his priorities. Goodman deepens her point when she introduces Phil’s family, using diction in relation to business to further emphasize the importance of work to Phil. To Phil’s wife Helen, “A company friend said ‘I know how much you will miss him.’ And she answered, ‘I already have.’” His eldest son tells the reader of how he went around the neighborhood gathering research on his father. His daughter recalls how whenever she was alone with him they had nothing to say to each other. When Phil’s youngest son reminisces on how he tried to mean enough to his father to keep him at home. Goodman informs the reader that the youngest child was Phil’s favorite. Goodman’s sentence structure of long, short, long, helps the shorter sentence stick out more to the reader. But she ends the paragraph with a sad ironic sentence, “My father and I only board here.” implying that he never really was successful.

Recalling around the age of ten, he spent two repulsive weeks with them. Each night after his grandmother took her medication and went to sleep. His step-grandfather went into his room and threatened to harm his grandmother if he told anyone what he did to him. A few nights later, unable to remain silent any longer, Andrew told his supposedly, loving grandmother everything. She surprised him by saying, “Your grandfather loves and treats you special. He would never hurt you or allow anyone else to harm you.”

Jake wanted to accuse Kat of a lot more—a hell of a lot more, but all he could do was glare at her. Even with the effects of the unforgiving heat and dusty layers of clothing, she was more beautiful than he remembered. She looked . . . well, citified and she smelled like a damn flower garden. That’s what got him into this calamity two years ago.

After I arrived home from the PTA meeting, I had a word with Laurie’s father. I said, “I talked to Laurie’s teacher. She said that there was no boy named Charles in the kindergarten! Do you suppose that our Laurie lied to us, and he was Charles all along?” “I suppose he did lie to us, and I guess that that means that our very own Laurie is Charles. That just seems so odd for Laurie to act the way he did. We must have some consequences for him. After all, everything he did was not acceptable by any means,” said Laurie’s father. “I absolutely agree with you,” I responded. “First, we must tell Laurie that we found out that he had been lying all along.”

After describing Phil and his average day, Ellen Goodman writes, “In the day and a half before the funeral, the eldest brother went around the neighborhood researching his father, asking the neighbors what he was like.” This quote shows that Phil had no balance in his life between working and taking care of his kids. He never even made time to spend time with his son or tell his son about his life. After talking about Phil’s relationship with his son, Ellen Goodman writes, “His daughter lives hear her mother and they were close, but whenever she was alone with her father, in a car driving somewhere, they had nothing to say to each other”. This excerpt further shows that Phil didn’t balance his time between work and taking care of his kids. This caused such a large disconnect that he couldn’t even interact with his daughter the small amount of time they were together. The large disconnect between Phil and his kids was caused by the lack of balance in his life and by him undervaluing his

As she rubbed her eyes in exhaustion she remembered the adventures of the day before. When she got home she passed out from the excitement and strain on her heart. She reached down to check her leg and sighed with relief to find a replacement was already attached. She looked over at her nightstand and noticed her spare glass waiting for her to put them on. As she got out of bed all she could think about was how rude she was to Sam. She walked into the kitchen to see her mother preparing breakfast. She looked around and did not see Sam. She didn’t know why she expected to see her but she was upset that he was not here. Her mom turned a saw her disappointment and said “He seem in quite a rush to leave he left his job to help you.” She was startled by her answer and rushed out the door ignoring the cries from her mother. She hurried Sam’s farm almost throwing up because of the strain on her heart. When she reached the farm she found an old man working the fields. She rushed over and asked, “Where is Sam?” The old man replied, “I fired him because...” She didn’t let him finish She rushed to the road the taste of blood in her mouth from running. She saw a man walking on the road looking forlorn. She called out, “Sam!” The man stopped and turned it was Sam he answered her, “Joy?” She ran into his arms and started to cry. Sam confused hugged her back. She thought to herself about how a horrible incident led to her

"Suddenly he remembered that the purse and the things he had taken out of the old woman's box were still in his pockets! He had not thought till then of taking them out and hiding them!... The paper had come off the bottom of the wall and hung there in tatters. He began stuffing all the things into the hole under the paper: 'They're in! All out of sight, and the purse too!' he thought gleefully, getting up and gazing blankly at the hole which bulged out more than ever. Suddenly he shuddered all over with horror; 'My

According to paragraph 19, "... they had talked of nothing else but butter and eggs, and the prices of things, and now they had as much to say to each other as people who meet after a long separation. By sticking pieces of their childhood and personal lives in the middle of the story, you can see how and why the two end up bonding over their memories. In paragraph 25, the wife warns the kids, "And you better be careful of that, an don't waste it. Your father works hard for his money." This piece contradicts the description of his wife in paragraph 19. Paragraph 19 provides the background that says, "In her desire to indulge her boys she had unconsciously assumed a defensive and almost hostile attitude towards her husband." The wife went from defending her boys with everything that she had to defending her husband and his

The rain had just stopped pouring, and we had all gathered in a park nearby, creating a make-shift memorial for Johnny. The boys had asked me to write a eulogy in memory of him, so here I was, standing in front of the small group of people that Johnny called his friends. His parents weren’t there, of course they weren’t. They didn’t care about him. I hadn’t wanted them there anyway. I looked around me. Standing at the front were the boys, Sodapop, Darry, Two-bit and Steve, and behind them were a few other familiar faces, that I couldn’t put names to.

Jack Foreman, recently laid off from his job at a biochemical research company. Now is at home and taking care of his wife, Julia and himselfs’ three children: Nicole 12y/o, Eric 8y/o and 9 month-old Amanda. He has found that caring for his home and children is not only tiring and lonely, but has caused a little coldness between Julia and himself. Julia had been working such long hours. Gone before the kids woke, and home after they got to bed.

Even when the sky cried, the town was perfect. The weekly manicured grass welcomed the unexpected warm summer rain. Rainbows of chalk drawings washed away in dark pools, and even with whole world seemingly turning dark, the perfect white trim on the houses shown, and the old gas street lights illuminated the pristine street. In the beige house, behind the white picket fence and the red door gathered a group of APT moms in the kitchen, hosting weekly book club. My sad reflection in the window stared back at me, visible to no one. I laughed quietly to myself when I saw the very familiar group. Making small talk at the head of the table was Mrs. Jackson, I had gone to school with her son forever. Funny, I didn’t see her at the funeral. Chipping away at her manicure was Mrs. Webster, our conservative Girl Scout leader whose daughter Lillian never liked me much. It was a quite diverse group, some sporting intricate hairdos thick with hairspray and pins, sipping their soy lattes perfectly poised, conversing only slightly