Mark went to see his grandmother for the weekend and my husband had planned to take Derek and Amelia to his store today. The older girls were away at camp so he wanted me to have a free day. Unfortunately he was shot and killed that day. I almost wish Mark would have been here that weekend, Derek and Amy would have been at home and not had to go through that. Monday came quickly after a rough weekend. Around the time school ended Mark called asking if Derek was sick. I told him what had happened and he asked if there was anything he could do to help. He really was turning into a Shepherd. I just told him to look out for Derek's things at school, get his assignments and bring them when he could. He brought us a pizza that night and even cried with our family. After the funeral he and Derek were shooting hoops in the backyard.
"I just can't believe he's gone," Derek said.
"I know Derek, he was more than my father ever will be."
"A watch," Derek froze.
"What?" Mark looked back.
"A damn watch, a god damn watch, why was his watch so important, what could they possibly do with that watch, it can't be more important than the things I would have done with my dad with the at least 25 good years of his life." Derek through the basketball against the wall, it almost hit Mark. He stormed up to his room and slammed the door. Mark came and found me and told me what happened and said he was going home for the day and he would call in a few days. When he did call I gave the phone to Derek but he didn't want to talk. He didn't want to eat anymore either and he rarely left his room. He just laid in his bed. I gave him space for some time, but time didn't help, he needed something else. I arranged for Mark to come over, I even bought a new video game system to try and entice Derek out of his room. Mark and him talked for half an hour, to this day I still don't know what was said, but after that talk Derek was o.k again, he started eating, he played his new video game system, and he was as happy as a boy who lost his father could be at that time. Derek did get better, but you can still tell it bothers him sometimes.
X
Now I'm not sure how true this one is, but the older girls told me Derek got his confidence to go after girls from Mark. It seemed like Mark had a different girlfriend nearly every month all throughout high school, but he never failed to introduce me to who he was with. I noticed a pattern, he seemed to go after slightly "broken" girls that he could take care of. Derek had one serious relationship, it lasted a little more than a year and went from his junior year, until just before the end of his senior year.
Derek and Mark's graduation night was a proud day for me, I cheered loudly for both of my boys. Mark's parents were able to come, but they quickly left after his name was called and didn't seem too excited. Afterwords I hugged each of my boys and we took some pictures on the football field. We all went out to dinner and Mark surprised us by paying, and the restaurant was fairly nice. He said some very nice things about me always taking him in and taking care of him. I was glad that next fall the boys would be headed off to college together. They were going to be roommates, and both wanted to become surgeons.