Forrester Found

2 Pages 472 Words

Forrester Found

William Forrester, a reclusive and eccentric writer, stands at the window of his Bronx apartment, observing life all around him, but refusing to be a part of it. Personal tragedies, guilt, fear and resentment have led him to living for over twenty years in this self-imposed isolation.
Forrester has not always lived a solitary existence. When he was a carefree teenager, he moved with his parents and brother from their native Scotland and settled into this New York apartment. He and his brother spent their summer days at the stadium nearby, cheering the Yankees to victory. Autographed balls and other mementos of those happy days are clustered together on his shelves, covered in thick layers of dust from years of neglect.
It was here that Forrester wrote his Pulitzer Prize winning book, lauded as the great American novel. Fame was not an inspiration him, it only fostered his resolve not to publish again. He took offense at others trying to define his work and resented the profuse and often badly timed praise it received. Within the walls of his solitary confinement he continued to write, choosing to file his works away, never to be read.
Forrester eagerly anticipated his brother’s return from war, but found him to be much quieter than before and drinking too much. One night he met up with his brother at a local bar and made the tragic choice not to drive him home. That night his brother died and within months so did his mother and father. Forrester never forgave himself and ironically chooses to sit alone in the family’s home, drinking to dull his guilt and pain.
With only himself for companionship, he becomes protective of his anonymity. He is a mystery to even his own neighbors, often referred to as just “the window” by the teens who gather to play basketball in the park below his apartment. One of those teens, a gifted young writer named Jamal, climbs in Forrester’s window on a dare and f...