250=1: Story 18

Millard Wafers Has Won The War.

Millard Wafers got his name from an inside joke his parents had, one they never told him, and so he was in the dark about it his whole entire life.  On his deathbed, his last words would be “My name is Millard Wafers, and I have won the war,” but that was years away from now.

For now, for right now, Millard is running a marathon nobody knows about, an inside story of his life he never even told his family about, not even Jack – Jackie Wafers, Millard calls him in his head (never in reality) – and Jack was the child Millard talked to most, late at night, as they watched talk-show comedians tell jokes about the day’s events before slipping away to bed.

Millard counts his steps: 17,676, 17,677 and so on. He listens to music (today, “Clair de Lune”) and runs his secret marathon, a course he had mapped out at age 23 and returned to each year on a day when he told everyone he had to go get supplies for the restaurant. He didn’t need to. He lied. Each year, he lied and went and ran his own private marathon.  Each year he kept track of his time. Each year, he ran it in about the same length of time.

Millard Wafers loved his life, and loved that nobody knew about the marathons.  He loved that part equally with the rest of his life, not more, not less: just so.

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In 250=1, I write short stories that are exactly 250 words long, counting the title.

Read more here. Because, why not? It's not like you're in Okkervil River or something.