When we walked into the 12th precinct, everyone started clapping and made me feel special. I was holding Dad's hand, and I motioned for him to pick me up. He smiled, bent down and said "one, two, three!" I jumped on three onto his shoulders. He walked around, as I high-fived everyone, and felt like I was on top of the world. I was looking around for Uncle Jamie when I saw him. Uncle Jamie was standing at his locker, holding something in his hands, fumbling with it. I immediately got curious and felt sad for a reason I would come to understand later. I tapped Dad's head to let him know that I wanted down. He looked up at me and said, "What's up buddy?" I pointed to Uncle Jamie, and he nodded his head. He picked me up and put me down. He looked at me and said, "Go sneak up on him, and talk to him." I nodded and ran up to the door of the locker room, then stopped immediately.
I thought about what I was going to say. I looked down and started to shuffle my feet. When I looked back up, Uncle Jamie was sitting down with what I could make out to be a picture. I have a problem with stuttering when I get nervous. Everyone in my family knows it. Even when I was little, my older brothers, Sean and Jack, and my cousin Nikki would always make fun of me for it. I tried to talk, but I kept stuttering. Uncle Jamie chuckled to himself and motioned for me to come to sit on his lap. I smiled and ran over, and jumped up into his lap. I looked up at him, and he smiled.
"What's on your mind, Xavier? Everything okay?"
I looked up at him and whispered, "Uncle Jamie? W-what would have happened? If, if I was kidnapped? Would I, would I be okay?" He looked at me with tears in his eyes.
"Joseph. I'm gonna tell you one thing. What happened today, I'm gonna make sure doesn't happen again, buddy. You won't ever have to worry about that stuff, do you understand?" I nodded, reached up, and wiped the tears out of his eyes. He laughed, and I contemplated what he said.
"B-but Uncle Jamie? What if," I stopped to think for a few seconds. "What if it does happen again though? W-what if I'm alone, and there isn't, there isn't someone I know, and they, they don't keep me at the house? What if they, they take me far away? I, I don't, I don't want that to hap-happen." He looked at me, and held the back of my head and pulled me closer.
"I know buddy. I know. I don't want that to happen either. That's why I promise to protect you and your brothers, and your cousin until the day I die."
I looked up at him and said, "Uncle Jamie, what was, was th-the thing that you, you were, were holding in, in your hand?" He forced a smile and showed me my first-grade school picture. I was confused, so I said, "Is that my picture, Uncle Jamie?" He closed his eyes as a tear dropped from his face onto my small hands. He held my tiny hands with his hands and whispered.
"Yeah buddy. I keep a picture of every one of my nephews and my niece in my locker. They remind me to pray to God to bring me back from my tour safely. That way I get to see you guys again." Back then, Uncle Jamie didn't have any kids of his own, so my brothers, Nikki and I were the next generation of Reagan's.