Charlie
I graded papers, when Don came to see me.
"How's it going, Buddy?" he asked.
"Busy..." I knew why he was here.
"I visited Dad last night."
"And..?"
"He misses you" Don sat on a chair nearby.
"He misses me so much that he up and Eloped" I said sarcastically.
"Look, it happened, let's move on." Don advised me.
"It was probably her idea." I snorted. "She didn't want a big party, and convinced Dad that it was more 'romantic' to elope."
"Mom would want us to be supportive"
"Leave her out of this!!!!!!!!!!" I snapped at him. "She wouldn't have approved of Dad excluding us!"
"She certainly wouldn't have approved of us excluding ourselves either" Don said gently.
"Why did he have to get married?" I wailed again. "Wasn't living with her enough?"
"Maybe Dad saw the Love boat a little too much when it was on" Don joked to lighten things up.
I groaned. "Come on!"
"At least go talk to him" Don suggested.
"I already told him how I felt on the phone!" I retorted and went back to correcting papers. "He started spewing crap about life being short and how I'd 'realize' that when I got to be his age' "
"Hurting us is the last thing Dad wants to do" My brother tried to assure me.
"Think about it Don, if one of us had Eloped in Vegas, how thrilled would he have been, huh?" I pointed out, knowing how Dad would want to be a part of the event.
"Charlie..." Don began, but stopped when his cell phone rang. Soon, he left.
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Two days later, Dad came into my office. Don must have talked to him. He dressed in his work suit.
"I happened to uh...be in the neighborhood and thought I'd come by." To my annoyance, there was a wedding ring, on one of his hands.
"Oh..." I continued to do my lesson planning.
" I did some thinking and realized that I'd be upset if our places were reversed.." he continued.
"Really?" I continued my work and added cynically. "Eventhough life is 'precious and fleeting'? "
"Nat and I got caught up in the moment" he tried to explain.
"Somehow I doubt you would have accepted that excuse from me or Don" I said sardonically.
"I'm sorry that I hurt you, Charlie." Dad apologized softly. I looked at him, and knew that he meant it. "Why don't we have lunch?
"Fine..." I agreed. Dad was starting to realize that what he did wasn't right.
We went to our favorite Chinese Restaurant.
"So uh...is marriage easier the second time?" I asked while reading my menu.
"In some ways yes, but you still gotta work at it." Dad answered.
"Oh?" Was there trouble in paradise?
"There's always that give and take, the importance of communication, among other things" Dad sipped some water.
Soon, Dad called Natalie to see if she wanted anything.
"Are you sure?" Dad asked her with worry. Apparently she said no. Why? "Have you even had anything to eat today?"
He listened seriously, and scolded " That's not a meal...I'll get ya a soup..." After some more arguing, he hung up.
"Is she coming down with something?" I asked.
"A cold.." Dad said quickly.
"How's business?" I asked. Something was fishy. Don mentioned Natalie eating less, but nothing about her looking sick. I'd need to see her for myself.
"Some kook wants to add a large room to his house for his cats" Dad remarked. "He's a Siamese cat breeder and a regular client of Nat's. We ran into him one day. He's got all sorts of ideas, though many of them are illegal and just won't work. "
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A few days later, when I went to Dad's place for dinner, I noticed that her cat carried something After a closer look, I couldn't believe what it was!!
TBC
