I'll be there someday
I can go the distance
I will find my way
If I can be strong
I know every mile
Will be worth my while
When I go the distance
I'll be right where I belong
It was happening again. Jason didn't appreciate this. Not now...
But the friendly postcard from Connie was staring him in the face. Boasting of another land Jason had yet to set eyes on.
It was almost painful.
Jason had found himself getting restless again lately. He knew it was pointless, that he had promised to remain here, in Odyssey, to help his father. And Whit needed his son. Now more than ever.
Jason just couldn't leave now.
Especially now.
He and his father only had each other.
Whit's wife and oldest son had been taken from him. The last thing he needed was for his youngest to ask to leave so he could see the world. No matter how alluring it was.
Out of the question. Ridiculous.
Jerry would do it.
Jason stopped in his progress, allowing the front door of Whit's End to shut behind him. Where that thought had come from, he wasn't completely sure. But it was right: Jerry would do it.
Jerry. The older of the two Whittaker boys. The perfect one. The one whom everyone loved.
The one who died in the war.
Now Jason was left. Just Jason.
Jason sighed as he threw the mail down on the counter and moved to the upstairs portion of the shop to turn on all of his father's inventions. Whit's End would be opening in less than an hour; he needed to have the place ready for the kids.
And yet, somehow, the idea of traveling never left Jason's mind. He was surrounded by all things Odyssey here in his father's shop yet had every desire to leave it. To see new things and experience new aspects of life that he had never even dreamed existed.
The thought of travel caused his pulse to quicken, adrenaline being dumped into his veins. His father had considerable travel experience. He would surely encourage Jason to take this path. And wasn't it Jerry who one time said that Jason should spend his money on food, clothes, and travel?
By going, he'd be honoring his family tradition; carrying on a legacy. Pursuing his dreams.
Jason tramped back downstairs, more than convinced to have a chat with his father before going home that night.
Whit was now sitting at the bar, perusing the mail. Jason began to formulate exactly how he was going to break this news to his father as he meandered behind the counter and came to rest before his Whit, elbows resting on the bar as he leaned some of his weight forward.
Whit looked up and smiled at his son. And Jason forgot what he wanted to talk about.
Honoring what? Pursuing what? He was already doing both of those things and more by being here. By working side by side with his father and carrying on the tradition of Whit's End that Odyssey had come to rely so heavily on.
This was Jason's destiny: to stay here and complete his father's family by standing behind a counter and scooping out ice cream and advice to children with life problems.
He loved doing it.
And his father had asked him to. How could he refuse?
He couldn't. And Jason knew why. It had been reflected in his father's gaze when he had looked up at Jason just then: love. And pride.
His father was all Jason had left in the world. Why would he ever want to leave that?
Jason stood and grinned at his father, asking, "What's on the menu for today?"