Balancing Cards

This is my first week participating in the II Writing Challenge.  Michael challenged me to write a story about balance.  I challenged Heather to write about her last ten minutes.  Check them out too!

He tried one more time to get it to work.  He held his breath, stood on one foot and leaned a bit toward the left while placing that last card onto the pile.  The second his fingertips released, it all came tumbling down into a pile of numbers and faces.

He just could not make the house of cards work.  Last summer he taught himself how to make miniature card houses.  They were fun then, but miniature houses were last summer’s feat.  This summer he was going to use all 52 cards to make a house bigger than he was.

Sighing, he picked up every card tumbled onto the ground.  ‘Always try again,’ was his mom’s mantra, ‘and the next time; do it with a smile,’ she always finished with a quick hug. 

His favorite pictures of his dad were the ones of him standing next to his house of cards.  His grandma recalled his dad being about his age when he accomplished his first full house of cards.  People were always telling him he was just like his dad, but he dared to believe them until his house was finished.

He could hear his Grandma telling her stories while he straightened the cards and started again at the bottom.  She told stories of his dad filled with adventures, struggles, school days, magic tricks and houses of cards.  Without the stories he barely remembered his dad, just a smile every now and then, maybe a familiar sent, but he was so young then.

So last summer his Grandma helped him get started building the houses.   Whenever he came in here, he felt close to his dad, in his presence, perhaps as if he was sitting here helping him.

He was at the top again.  He held the precious card lightly between his fingertips, stood firmly on two fit, squeezed his eyes shut and smiled.  The final card left and balanced perfectly completing his house of cards.

“Mom!” his gleeful cries filled the house.  He gave an excited jump just a couple of inches off the ground, but enough for the cards to come tumbling down once again.

He ran out of the room leaving the cards littered on the ground, happier just having the knowledge that he could balance a house of cards, just like his dad.