Aurora Magazine 2018

hood. I’ve long forgotten those stories, but I know that they were stories only told that night. The feeling of the smile and laughter beginning to hurt my face is easy to recollect even now. The sound of the oil bubbling as the cheese puffs fell into the pan resounded as theme song to the stories. I watched the oil spread across the paper towels slowly as each puff came out to cool. As the final puff came out of the pan and my dad turned off the stove, the conversation lulled into simple smiles. My mom transferred the cheese puffs from the paper towel to a bowl and my dad walked into the living room. He looked through the stack of VHS tapes in the bottom of the lightly colored pine entertainment center. When he pulled one of them out he put it in the rewinder. The screeching was deaf- ening. He popped it out when he thought it as close to the ti- tle. When he put the tape in my mom laughed as she watched a few seconds of Robinhood Men in Tights. My dad quickly grabbed the remote and rewound till it was at the beginning. We laughed, ate, and quoted most of the movie in the dimly lit living room. The world outside was long forgotten, the crash a distant memory. As the credits rolled, I rubbed my eyes and hugged both of my parents. I walked to my room, fell onto my twin mattress, and buried myself under my many blankets. No one was going to work tomorrow, or school. That was fine. The night had taught us all something far more important and valuable than either could give us. Family is important. Those B O Y E R

98