The son of a bitch shot me.

Right after we finished the whole course in an hour and half, he turned around and plastered me with eight or nine neon green paintballs. Bastard. I then plastered him with what was left of my pink paintballs until the course owner yelled us at.

He had the nerve to call us overgrown children, so we shot him a few times with our paintballs.

Then he had the nerve to ban us from the course for the rest of the day. So we put marbles in his gas tank.

I got back to my small house by noon.

Diana was out in the neighbors yard with his herd of children, helping them plant a garden. I slid in the house before one of them spotted me. I changed and then headed for the kitchen, looking for something to eat.

The sight of the groceries brought a grin out on my face.

Diana did not believe in Tofu, thank God. She had bought me beer, real meat hotdogs, and ice cream. Real ice cream. The food was real and filled the fridge. I loved her.

Before I opened a beer I'd have to go thank her, she couldn't stand the smell of it so I didn't open a beer, yet. Instead I headed outside and across the lawn. At the sight of me the kids cheered, all boys between the ages of 5 and 9. All had hand me downs that were covered in dirt, one of the older kids looked like he had rolled around in a mud pit.

Diana glanced up at me and smiled, she had the kids all in a row planting seeds, and they were actually enjoying themselves.

"Hey sweetie, did you have fun at the range?"

I grinned and instead of answering her I kissed her. It disgusted the children who all made gagging noises. I didn't care. She smelled wonderful, fresh, not full of perfume and lotions. Whatever she had eaten earlier had left a sweet taste on her lips that I devoured.

When I broke the kiss and told her I loved her a few fell in the dirt, utterly disgusted. Diana just smiled, "You found your beer?"

"Among other things," I grinned.

I gave her a quick kiss while she pulled a piece of paper from her back pocket. She put it in my hand and spoke against my lips, "I ran into some man you grew up with at the food store."

It didn't dawn on me at that moment.

"Man? What's his name?"

Diana rolled her eyes and wiped her hands on her jeans, "Thaddeus."

Thaddeus? I ain't never met no man named Thaddeus.

She could see the look on my face and she elaborated, "Thaddeus J. Gibson?"

I didn't know that name but I slowly suspected who it was, I nodded, "Aight, you have fun with your dirt." I kissed her one last time and headed into the house to call one person who would know who that man was, Momma.

It'd been almost a week since I spoke with her last.

I closed the front door and dropped down on the couch in the living room, Diana had left the phone on the coffee table so I grabbed it, I punched in the numbers I had memorized in kindergarten and waited for the phone to ring.

Outside the boys screamed, playful screams.

I listened to them while the phone rang, on the third ring Momma answered, "Hey baby."

God she loved caller I.D., before that she rarely answered the phone.

"Hey Momma, how you doin?"

Her rich voice carried over the phone as if she stood beside me, "Fine, baby, when do I get to see your woman again?"

I leaned forward and stared at my feet, a smile growing, "When I get a chance. Look Momma, I gotta question for ya."

"What's that baby?"

For a moment I thought about asking her a million other things, I had no right to ask her about the man who broke her heart. No right at all. In all honesty I had no desire to see the man, none at all.

"What is dads name?"

She was quiet for a minute, "You mean your Goddaddy or the worthless bastard who left us?"

"The latter."

"Thaddeus."

That was just perfect. I rubbed the bridge of my nose and stared at my feet, my shoes seemed to draw my eyes like moths to a flame.

"What for baby?"

I couldn't lie to Momma, "He been calling me."

She wasn't silent, "That bastard, I kill him myself, what he been calling you for? You win the lottery?"

"Naw, Momma why'd he leave?"

Momma never really told us, we never asked, she asked, "He been calling Albert too?"

"Yeah."

"That son of a bitch! How'd he get the numbers? I ain't even know your numbers till ya tell me, you ain't been telling him your number?"

"Hell no."

"That's my boy."

I smiled at her words. Momma could always make me smile. But before I hung up I asked, "Why'd he leave?"

"He's a fucking lying bastard that's why, an he didn't leave I dun thrown his ass out. He left when I told him to leave, we ain't in need of a man like him round, I can raise my boys just fine. Don't you give him any money."

"I won't momma, just one last question, then I gotta go."

"What's that baby?"

I sat up, no longer looking at my feet but out the living room window at Diana and the herd of boys. Watching her teach them to plant a garden. How the hell someone could just leave something like that was beyond me, and I wasn't even a father. "What does he do?"

"For work?"

"Yeah."

Momma was thinking, "Well baby when I divorced him he quite, so he wouldn't have to pay alimony or child support, but he's a judge. Last I heard he got work as one them Supreme Court Judges."

A Supreme Court Judge?

"Momma? Those men make alotta money. Why'nt you ask a judge for help, fore you won the lotto we was dirt poor. We ain't had nothing."

I heard Momma smile, "Baby when your daddy left he didn't wanna support you or your brothers, I ain't no gold digger. I can support my family and sons. I ain't gonna go crawlin on my hands and knees to a man who didn't want my beautiful babies."

I smiled, "Thank you Momma."

For a while I watched Diana while she planted seeds of many kinds with the children, while she showed them how to plant them, all the boys watched and mirrored her actions.

How could someone just leave all that? I'd never understand it, I didn't want to understand it, so I called my brother. He'd be no help but I wanted to talk to him. He was more petty and spoiled then I was, but he was married with three little monsters of his own.

He answered on the first ring, he was also a big fan of caller I.D., even at work he didn't bother to reign in his mouth, "Hey white trash what's up?"

"Dipstick, guess what?"

In the backround I heard a radio buzz, he answered me, "You knocked up the Generals daughter?"

I rolled my eyes and watched Diana, my eyes couldn't leave her, I was in deep. "Not yet…..our father's been callin me."

"What the fuck? I dun told his ass off. Want me to tell him off for you?"

"It's aight. Look…..you ain't never been so resentful of him, what changed?" When we grew up Albert didn't really care about our father one way or another, he went through Police School and got his degree in Criminology without any fatherly support, he never cared about our Dad, now he hated the man more then anything in his life.

He didn't talk about him or anything.

"I had Claire. I tell ya what Hoot, the minute you hold your baby in your arms, look in her brown eyes, you'll feel something you never felt before. When I looked into her eyes I could not put her down. I sat beside her crib for three nights in a row just watching her. How our father could leave three of us….I don't want to know a man like that."

That's what I was looking for, I needed to hear that, I thanked my brother and hung up. Now I was no longer curious about what the man wanted, I didn't want to know what he wanted from me. I didn't care.