The return home
Chapter 1: thoughts of the past
5 years. That's how long it's been since Jimmy was last home. Jimmy, once gone crazy because of a strong depression, was cured and ready to fix the broken past he left behind.
Jimmy got on the plane that was to return him home. After his interview with the associated press, he finally decided that it was time to return home.
Jimmy took his seat in first class. He normally would have taken his private jet, however, if he were to fix his past, he would have to be just like them; humble, and classy, yet delicate and intertwined. Jimmy slowly looked around, and he saw a person of middle age reading the article that the associated press printed about him.
The pilot spoke on the intercom.
"Attention passengers. The plane will be taking of in one minute. Please fasten your seat belts and enjoy the flight."
Jimmy put on his seat belt and waited for the plane to take off. Sure enough, one minute later, the plane lifted off the ground and high into the air. Jimmy put on his mp3 player and took off his seat belt. Just then a attractive-looking female flight-attendant, with blonde hair and emerald eyes, came up to him. To Jimmy she looked very familiar, but he couldn't place a finger on where he seen her before.
"Hello sir. Can I get you something to drink?"
"A martini, on the rocks please."
The flight-attendant nodded. She walked away, but before she did, she gave him a funny look, almost as if she was remembering something. When the flight-attendant left, Jimmy began to think of the past.
16 was the perfect age to get a job, right. For Jimmy it was. A nuclear physicist; a dream job of Jimmy's. Jimmy was excited. His first week on the job went smoothly, and he was going to get his first paycheck soon. 6 hours later, Jimmy was standing in front of his boss, Mr. Davidson.
"Jimmy, it's great to have you here, and it's great to see you working so hard. So here is your first paycheck."
Jimmy eagerly took the check out of Mr. Davidson's hands and opened it up. The look on Jimmy face showed delight, eagerness, but most of all it showed shock. Jimmy could barely speak the next sentence.
"Mr. Davidson, is this right? $16,000?"
"It is Jimmy. See, that's what hard work and dedication will get you, some hard-earned cash. Jimmy, listen to these next words I'm about to speak very carefully. Don't let your money get the best of you. Spend it in reason, and don't lose your friends and family over it."
"I won't, Mr. Davidson, I won't."
How naive of Jimmy to think that. Mr. Davidson had warned him of the power of money and he failed to listen to his words. He had lost everything, and for what? Fame and fortune. Jimmy had broken up his relationships, and he be damned if he wouldn't do everything in his power to fix them. It goes by the simple philosophy that nature doesn't destroy what it can't heal. Jimmy was so angry with himself that a single tear rolled down his face and onto his cheek. He was also so caught up in his thought that he didn't hear the flight-attendant. The flight-attendant kept speaking, and Jimmy kept not hearing her, or, should I say, not listening to her. So finally, Jimmy exploded.
"What do you want?"
The flight-attendant backed away, obviously scared of Jimmy's anger. When Jimmy realized what was going on he quickly apologized. The flight-attendant nodded and handed him his alcoholic beverage. The flight-attendant sat down by him.
"You looked furious about something. What is it? Maybe I can help. Besides being an flight-attendantI'm also a consular."
"Well, I was just thinking about my past. I messed up my relationships with some very important people in my life."
"Oh, yeah, how so?"
"I let money get the best of me. I was a fool, and I'm ashamed of myself."
"Who did you mess up your relationships with?"
"My two best friends who I knew since the 5th grade, one of said friends girlfriend, and with my parents. There was also this girl who I had an unique relationship with. Her and my parents are the reason why I'm going back to my hometown after 5 years."
"Tell me more about this girl."
The flight-attendant listened carefully as Jimmy told her about his relationship with Cindy. Every so often, she would nod or comment to show Jimmy that she was paying attention to his story. By the end of Jimmy's story, his face was covered in tears, his eyes were red and bloodshot, and he looked scared.
"I think I loved her, but I never had the nerve to tell her that. That's one of the first things I'm doing when I get back. Tell Cindy I love her, tell my friends how much I care about them, and tell my parents that I love them and that I need their love to survive. I miss them all."
With that said, Jimmy burst into tears again. The flight-attendant took Jimmy in her arms and allowed him to cry on her shoulder. She patted his back to calm him.
"Shhh, it'll be alright."
The flight-attendant kept doing that until Jimmy calmed downed. To Jimmy, the flight-attendant's voice was soothing and her hands had a soft, innocent feel to them. As Jimmy was calming down, he smelled jasmine, and realized that it was coming from the flight-attendant's hair.
Must be the shampoo she uses.
The smell was comforting and relaxing. Once Jimmy was calm, he broke the comforting embrace that he and the flight-attendant shared. He then returned to sitting, as did the flight-attendant.
Jimmy smiled and said, "thanks, I needed that."
"Your welcome. I'm glad you had a shoulder to cry on. Now, I think you realize what you have to do, and I have confidence that you can fix whatever mess you have gotten yourself into, but, if you ever need a shoulder to cry on again, or if you ever need some advise, give me a call. Hold on a sec so I can give you my phone number."
Like I'm gonna go anywhere.
The flight-attendant pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil from her blouse and wrote down her phone number and address. She also realized that she never properly introduced herself to Jimmy, so she also wrote down her name. She handed the paper to Jimmy.
"Here's my phone number and address. Well, I better get back to work before the airline fires me…again. By the way, my name is Amy, Amy Wong Hefner."
Jimmy said his goodbye and went back to thinking while Amy went back to work. As Jimmy was thinking, he slowly drank his martini on the rocks.
Damn, this taste good. It been to long. Better pace myself; don't want to go back to my old habits now do I?
5 hours later, the plane landed. By that time, Jimmy had finished his martini on the rocks, had had 3 cokes, a mountain dew, and a barks root beer. He also went through 2 rechargeable batteries for his mp3 and he went to the restroom several times during the flight. He got off the plane and stepped into his hometown of Retroville for the 1st time in 5 years.
Well, here goes everything.
He decided to fix his relationship with his parents 1st. He walked down to his street and was shocked at what he saw.