by Gary Haynes
“Good to see you, Tommy. Dear Lord,” she said, registering his beat-up face. “What happened to you?”
“I fell down some stairs.”
“Drunk?”
“No, ma’am.”
“You lost weight, too.”
“Where’s Granddaddy?”
“He’s watching TV,” she said. She hollered out behind her, telling Tom’s granddaddy to come outside. “You want some lemonade?”
“No, thank you, ma’am.”
She tried to run her fingers through his dark hair. “You cut your hair too short. You ain’t in the military. No need to.”
He scratched the back of his head.
“Your momma wouldn’t like it.”
“Momma’s in heaven, Grandma. She don’t fret about such things.”
Tom’s granddaddy appeared and, after glancing at his strapped shoulder, slapped him on the opposite one and shook his hand. His shake was firm and the dark-brown eyes Tom had inherited from him sparkled like sunlight on the Mississippi.
“You look well, son,” he said.
“You’re blind, Daddy,” his grandma said. “You can’t see his scars?”
“He ain’t dead though. Don’t fuss, Mother.”
Tom grinned, hearing the Buick’s door slam shut. He saw his grandparents looking behind him.
“Who’d ya bring along, Tom?” his granddaddy asked.
“Let’s all go inside,” Tom said, gesturing to his father to join them.
Despite what his father had said at the cemetery, he knew now that opening up about his part in how his momma had died would give him a peace that he’d longed for.
CARINA™
ISBN: 978 1 472 05479 1
STATE OF HONOUR
Copyright © Gary Haynes 2013
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