Buck sat on his parents' sofa staring at the paper in his hand. It had been so long since he'd seen his uncle. Not once did Buck visit the man that gave him his life back, that set him on a better path. It was the same man that gave him some sense of hope that he would belong on this alien planet.
Dear Francisco family, it is with great sorrow that we must
inform you of the recent death of Thomas Lamas, known to us
and others by his Tenctonese name Moodri. We will send
belongings shortly after this message is mailed. I would like to
express my deepest condolences and we, too, grieve the
passing of such a unique soul.
Martha Ryers
Species Unification Through Scientific and Spiritual Advancement
Part of him wished he weren't there before everyone else to bring in the mail. A few more hours of blissful ignorance would have been welcome. But what would that have helped? This was guilt and there was no way, now, to make up for it.
During his teen years, if not for his uncle's careful guidance, Buck could have ended up in prison or worse. But then Uncle Moodri left and Buck had been so swept up in life that he never thought to check up on the wise elder.
Buck remembered sitting on the outcropping of rocks with his uncle, his life on a knife's edge. He'd just killed a boy in self defense but that made no difference. More than the worry of the law catching up with him, he felt the destruction of his soul having taken a life. Each night when all was quiet, he saw the boy's face after the bullet hit, just before death. Each day he saw the boy's face in every human he passed by.
Then his uncle led him to one of his greatest fears. Confronting that fear surfaced yet another, deeper fear. The answer to both was to make peace with this world where his family, his people now lived on.
Buck closed his eyes and pressed the letter between his hands the way some humans prayed. If only he could hold the letter tightly enough, believe in it hard enough that perhaps he could see his uncle one last time. If only he could thank the man that set him on the right path. Uncle Moodri saved his life and he never thanked him. Now, he never could.