Coming Home

As they approached the main house, Junior could see his father standing on the porch. Just looking at him made Junior miss his mother who had died when he was very young. What did startle him was to see his brother standing next to his father, looking like he had twenty years or more on his father's robust 55.

WB pulled the truck to a stop and Junior opened the door and stepped out.

His father looked him over, seeing the beard and the long hair, but what he noticed most was that while the face, even under the hair and beard was familiar, it was his eyes that were most different. He didn't recognize them, for they no longer held the mirth and seeming constant mischievousness of his youth.

"Joseph, I'm glad to see you, son." Joe Junior looked at his father, realizing that he now had to look down at him, something he had forgotten from his last brief trip home. He now towered over his father, which was no mean feat, as his father stood a robust six foot four.

It was seeing his brother close up that made him turn to his father. "What is wrong with John?" Joe senior looked at his elder son and back at his younger one. "Joe, he has cancer of the brain and I have to tell you of something he has done, something that happened before we knew about the cancer."

"Oh man, what did he DO?"

"Come inside, son, and sit and we will talk."

"Father, just tell me, nothing he could have done can overshadow the things I have seen or even done in the past 10 years."

Before his father could speak, John spoke, "I raped Mary."