The Return

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Monique Joseph stared at her son in amazement as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Mom, you're acting like you've seen a ghost." He said. "You'd think you are one, how long you've been gone." She replied with a smile. Monique was a mother of four, three girls and one boy. She loved her son and took to him more, as he resembled her husband. Kenneth Flynn was an ex army sergeant, leaving the family to join there at a young age. He always returned back to visit his family whenever he got the chance, once he made them from the first few trips. He retired at the age of 53 with limb problems and lung cancer, doctors giving him a year to live. He kept living. Puzzled, the doctors always questioned his drive, to which he responded "I survive Nam. I'm not gonna let something little like this kill me." Kenny admired his dad. He opened up his mouth to ask about him when the door opened and a slew of adults and kids alike came through the door, all obviously excited. His family. "Kenny!" They all shouted in unison, only stopping to laugh. He got up from the chair and proceeded to hug and hail everyone, happy they received him well. "Uncle Jesse!" He heard two voices shout. He turned around with a big grin on his face as twins, Alain and Allen ran towards him. "Hey guys!" He said with a smile and a hug. Jesse was Kenny's middle name. And the twins called him it affectionately for that purpose but also because of the character from Full House, which they were fond of. Kenny grew up to like the show as well, babysitting the twins from time to time as they sat and watched the show repeatedly, laughing at the same jokes each time. But they were no longer his little twins, these twins were teenagers. Both 14 years old, they weren't to Kenny's knees anymore. "We missed you." They said. And he nodded and said he missed them, too. He remarked on how big they grew and asked them about their grades. They admitted to it dropping when he left and he felt a tinge of guilt. Once saying that it was up now, he smiled and praised the twins, saying they would make good scholars in the future. To this, they smiled and nodded. They loved him and he loved them. Monique came up to him and handed him a cup of coffee. "I called them." She said, answering a question he asked in his head. She was always the type to bring her family together, whether it be for a trip or as simple as Kenny's preseason football game, they were there. To see them not hating him or his decision to leave was a relief for him. Then the door opened again.

Into the house with elegance was a beautiful lightskin woman. Her hair in red and her business suit tightly ironed. She radiated professionalism and stood out amongst everyone else. She was 5'5, in heels 5'7 & the room turned their attention to her. She placed her briefcase down by the stairs and scanned the room, stopping to look at Kenny and then quickly averting her eyes. Kenny stood shocked as he watched her walk over to Monique and give her a hug. Monique smiled and looked over at Kenny. She let go of Monique and looked at him, too. Everything else in the background suddenly disappeared from his field of view and he only saw this woman. She offered out her hand to him to shake and said "Kenneth." He looked at her hand, dumbfounded. Then in an act not of his own, he shook it. "Tamera."

Tamera let go of his hand and kept her stern face, then walked past him to hail some of his family members. Kenny snapped back to reality and stared at his mother. "Why is she here?" He said under his breath. She smiled at him and said "you left her. She didn't leave us." Flynn felt a sudden butterfly in his stomach, nervousness. He hadn't felt this feeling in years. He quickly realized his mother wasn't beside him and so he waltzed around the huge living room to talk to a few of his cousins. They filled him in on a few things he missed and shared a couple laughs. His nervousness simmered down and he was himself again. Surveying the room, he felt content. This was truly home. His family around, the old generation, the new. But he felt something was missing. He stood up and looked, going upstairs & back down, inside the basement, out to the patio and couldn't find it. His mom came up to him and stared at him, bewildered. "What are you looking for?" She asked. "Dad's rocking chair...and dad." He said. The whole room went silent. You could've heard the rats making love in the basement if they were. Monique's eyes closed shut and she sighed. Kenny looked at her and then around the room as everyone's eyes were fixated on the pair. She opened her eyes and looked into his. He saw the pain in her eyes and heard the words before she sounded them out. "Your father's dead, Kenny." The words echoed into his ears and out, into the silent room and back into his ears and then shot him right in the heart. Kenny crumbled to the floor in pain and bawled. His scream echoed through the room and his mother stopped anyone from trying to go and console him, giving her son his time. Memories racked through his brain of times his dad and he argued, the last being before he went off to the army. His dad had suggested against it, telling him that he wasn't ready for the army and that nobody should see anything he saw. To this, Kenny retorted that it made his dad a better man and he appreciated his family more. "The army didn't make me a better man." He said. "It scarred me. Made me miserable. You guys. Coming home to my family made me a better man. I got nothing but death from the army. I don't need the same for you." Kenny stood there and hugged his dad, noticing the pain he felt from the cancer. "I've gotta do this. To make it right." He replied. "You don't have to make anything right. You don't owe anyone anything, son. I don't need you dying out there." And to that, Kenny left. On a mission to prove his father wrong, that he wouldn't die out there. He got up and looked at his mom, she reaching up to wipe his eyes with a towel. "How long ago?" He asked. She stared at the floor and shook her head. "Five years." Kenny looked down at his mother, now noticing her age. She was a short woman, always believing in God and His plan. She remarked that Kenneth stayed alive because God wanted him to get his life together and that once he did, it was time for him to go. To this, Kenneth replied "oh bullshit. God doesn't care about me that much. Else I wouldn't be in this predicament." And he smoked his cigar. Her hair was whiter than before, her face weary and her posture sunken. She had to deal with losing her husband for five years and not hearing from her son for seven. He hugged her tightly and said he was sorry, to which she responded with crying in his arms. He lost his father and he wasn't there for his mother.