This week’s InMon prompts were tough for me, plus I’ve got a huge to do list, so the writing was a bit rushed. I quite like it, but I’d have liked to have more time to polish and perhaps extend it. Let me know what you think!
Knowns and Unknowns
“We know what we know,” he began, in time-honoured tradition.
“Dad, if you’re going to give me the Donald Rumsfeld treatment, can we just take it as read?” I wasn’t even sure how we’d come to be discussing my love life in the first place. That’s the thing about long car journeys in my family, they somehow turn into confessionals, and then I’m trapped in a steel box with them both, trying not to scream.
“The Donald Rumsfeld treatment?” It was like he didn’t know he did it.
“Come on, Dad. You give us the same speech all the time: there are known unknowns and there are unknown unknowns.” Sometimes it’s good to have a brother – someone who shares your unique understanding of your parents’ foibles.
“A known unknown, Jacob, is something we know we don’t know.”
He was going to do it. He was actually going to go ahead and give the speech anyway. I just couldn’t take it. “Dad. Stop. Please.”
“All I’m saying is that you only know part of the story. There are probably parts to it you don’t even know you’re unaware of.”
“I know, Dad. Look, can we change the subject?” I stared out at the sleet lashing down over the countryside and tried to think of something other than Peter Lassiter and all the things I knew and didn’t know, and didn’t want to know, about why he’d broken up with me. Fiona Acton was a known known. I wished right then that she wasn’t.
“Nice weather we’re having,” said Jacob as the car was slowed suddenly by a deep puddle. Sometimes it’s good to have a brother.
elmowrites 
Felt very real and full of history without being full of exposition. Very well done and feels like it would be a part of something bigger.
The ironic part is parents frequently don’t “know” anything 🙂
I really enjoyed this. It felt very realistic.