Spot, Charles, and I burst into the apartment living room, joyful and very loud.
"We won!" Charles and Spot cheer.
"Tonight, there's going to be a feast for the greatest strike leader that's ever lived!" I smile going over to the stove.
Charles rushes over to Fletcher and Evan," You should have seen it! Spot here goes up the governor and introduces himself as the King of Brooklyn. Then, Teddy Roosevelt offers him and Ally a ride all the way back to Brooklyn in his carriage!"
Spot takes a seat next to Fletcher. Quickly, I start chopping up potatoes and mushrooms. I glance back at the table for a quick second. It can't be. He's dead.
"Allyson?"
My knife drops on the ground making a loud clang. He's dead, you're imagining things.
"Allyson, my daughter is that you?" He speaks in French.
I drop down to the floor and bring my knees up to my chest. He's dead. He drops down beside me wrapping his arms around me and bringing me to his chest while I sob.
"I am here now. I am here, Allyson."
His ocean blue eyes start to tear up as he stares at me.
"After all these years, you have only grown more beautiful."
He starts to reach into his pocket for something and pulls out the music box he gave me when I was five. It's a ballerina with ginger hair and a black ribbon around her neck. He turns the key until it starts to play the sweet happy tune I haven't heard in years.
"How does a moment last forever? How can a story never die? It is love we must hold onto. Never easy, but we try. Sometimes our happiness is captured. Somehow our time and place stand still. Love lives on inside our hearts and always will," He sings along softly in French.
He stands and lifts me back up on my feet. He wraps my hands around the music box. I nod my head and he quickly heads over to Charles. He places his hand on Charles' shoulder. Charles refuses to meet his glance, at all.
"You look exactly like me, son," he whispers," I am sorry I have missed these last five years. I love you all."
Father unknowingly takes a seat next to Spot. He stares at Spot, almost like watching him.
"Have we met before?" Father asks him.
"No, I'm Spot Conlon," Spot holds out his hand to Father without spit on it. Thank God.
"Conlon? I use to know an Aidan Conlon, he was a drunk. A relation?" Father asks.
Spot looks like a ghost as he shakes his head. All the color is gone from his cheeks and face," I'se don't know who me fadder is. I'se an orphan."
Father looks around at everyone else at the table. He doesn't understand. Fletcher translates in to French for him and mother.
"Why are you here? You're supposed to be dead," Charles snaps.
"Mahdist War, some men that were dead, were said to be alive and some that were alive, were sometimes said to be dead. The war ended only a couple months ago. But you must understand, how much I missed all of you. I will never leave for such a cause again."