Gemotions

Liam stared at the weathered notepad. His father’s scrawl, a chaotic mix of capital letters and hurried loops, stared back at him. "Build a treehouse. Climb a mountain. Learn to play the saxophone." Liam exhaled, the air escaping his lungs in a puff of doubt.

He picked up a rusty wrench from the workbench, turning it over in his calloused hands. His father, a meticulous accountant, had spent his life in front of a computer screen. The man had never climbed so much as a flight of stairs unless forced. This whole thing reeked of fantasy. A fanciful thought of what life could have been, nothing more.

He kicked a discarded piece of wood across the garage, the sound echoing in the otherwise quiet space. It was too late for treehouses and saxophone lessons, wasn't it? He slammed the wrench back down on the bench.