THE TOWERS FAMILY SAGA
       Episode 107
    THE QUIET MORNING
The dawn light crept over
the mountain, painting
the condo in soft shades
of orange and dusty gold.
Virginia sat at the desk,
her back to the window,
the screen glow muted.
She did not rush the work.
She did not check the time.
She just let the morning
breathe into her lungs.
The radiation was fading
like a bad, dark dream.
"The tea is ready, Vee."
Barbara set the mug down,
her movements slow, calm.
"You have been sitting
there for a long time."
"I am just watching the
light change," she said.
"It is a nice change."
"The doctor said to take
it slow," Barbara noted,
pulling up a wooden chair.
"I am in no hurry, Barb."
"I am learning that."
Robert walked in with
the morning paper folded.
He stood by the deck,
watching the sun climb.
"It is a quiet day."
"The best kind," he said.
He looked at his daughter,
the girl who fought death
and won her life back.
"How is the energy?"
"It is returning, Dad."
"In waves," she explained.
"It is a soft tide."
They didn't talk of the
foundry or the stocks.
They didn't talk of the
scandals of the past.
They just existed in the
stillness of the morning.
The world outside was
a frantic, noisy place.
But here, in this room,
the time had slowed down.
Virginia picked up her
medication, the small
white bottle in her hand.
She took it with water.
A ritual of survival.
"One day at a time,"
she whispered to herself.
"That is the only way."
Robert sat near her.
He watched the dust motes
dancing in the beams.
He felt a strange peace
he hadn't known before.
The empire was a dream.
The family was the truth.
They lingered there for
hours, just being whole.

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