To Protect My Honor

Inherent Resolve IV

By Christmas Day, I had virtually given up hope on a response. I mean, it had been about three months, and if Victoria was going to answer me, she would have done so by now.

I almost had written her a few days earlier to ask if she was holding a grudge, but thought better of it. 

After opening the presents at noon, as we liked to sleep late at this age, we just waited out the rest of the day until dinner.

At four o'clock, my grandmother arrived from Pomona. She intended to join us for dinner, and dinner was only an hour away.

And what a dinner it was! My mom had made a standing rib roast of beef that was big enough to feed ten people for the five of us. There were several pounds of leftovers, and I had several helpings of mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, and Caesar salad.

It was not that cold that evening, but the wind had picked up by the end of dinner. I was going to walk it off around seven o'clock, but decided against it. 

I fell asleep on the sofa not one hour later. My mom had set a fire, and the rest of the family was sitting around it talking, but I was fast asleep. Until about forty-five minutes after midnight.

I looked up and noticed that the room was dark, save the orange glow of the residual embers in the fireplace. No one else was there.

"I should probably go to bed," I thought to myself. "I mean, it is now December 26 after all."

I walked up to my room, but was no longer tired. Or at least I thought I wasn't.

I woke up in the morning to the phone ringing. It was my dad.

"Milton?"

"Yes?"

"I spoke to Ivan yesterday. He wants you to come back to Michigan this summer."

"So he can sue me in his own state?"

I still hadn't quite forgiven him for trying to interfere with my writing.

"No. He misses talking to you. He wants to see you again."

"I thought we were friends," I said. "But now all is lost."

"Well," said my dad, "sometimes things that are lost can be found again."

I didn't care. It wasn't important to me.

On New Year's Eve, I wrote an agenda of goals for my life in 2017. I spent the whole morning doing that, and I was done by eleven.

I showed it to my mom, and she approved. 

"It's good to see you being proactive," she said.

"Yeah. Cold outside today."

"Isn't it?! It was thirty-four degrees when I woke up."

"Wow," I said. "I saw that now it's forty-seven."

"Still too cold," said my mom.

I thought about asking Michaela to do something with me, but I remembered that she had gone to Key West for the New Year. I had no one and nothing to do, but I was tired from being up since five, so I fell asleep for several hours.

It was dusk when I woke up. I pulled the heavy duvet off of myself, and rolled out of bed. I thought about going to see a movie that evening, but couldn't decide on one. I didn't know if I could make it until midnight, but I would try at least somewhat.

As soon as I entered the common room, my mom asked, "What's wrong?"

"A lot. I have a lot on my mind."