Look who’s turned up, nobody expected him! I shouted, trying to keep my voice steady. You can just go back now, you know?
Dad, what are you doing? Andrew gasped, eyes wide. I havent been home in twenty years and you spring this on me!
If it were up to me, Id have met you with a belt! Daniel Harper grabbed at his waist, then chuckled. Never mind, well sort this out.
Take it easy, mate! Andrew stepped back, hands raised. Im not a child, I can speak for myself.
Thats exactly the sort of attitude youve got! Daniel sneered, letting his belt drop. You attack the weak, run from the strong, cheat the kind, and serve the wicked!
Really? Whats got you so angry? What are you accusing me of? Andrew shrugged. If I ever did anything wrong, its been twenty years. Times washed it clean.
Easy for you to say when youre the one at fault! Of course you want everyone to forgive you. Ive got no forgiveness to give you, Daniel declared.
What could I possibly have done? I was at the academy, thinking why my parents signed me up for the navy and barred me from coming home! You never answered my letters, even though I kept writing!
Dont you know? Daniel taunted.
Andrews face showed pure bewilderment, and just then their mother cut in.
Enough of that! Margaret Miller shouted, arms flailing. Youve brought us nothing but trouble! Get him out, Mick, and save us the embarrassment!
Andrew froze, as solid as a standing stone. Margaret pressed on: If the Lord gave me strength, Id wrestle you down! Id put all my might into it! Looks like the devils got a hand in this! She pointed at the bruise under Andrews eye.
Someone really went for it! Daniel laughed, slapping his knee. Id shake his hand if I could.
Parents, whats happening? Andrew yelled, frantic. Have you both lost your minds? Ive been away for twenty years! Why this treatment?
Who sent you this? Daniel asked. Well kick you out, then thank the guy who helped us!
I dont even know who him is, Andrew snapped. I was on a bus heading home when my neighbour Pete recognised me and ran over to say hello. The bus stopped, some young bloke leapt out, shoved me in the face and ran off. By the time I pulled myself together, he was already gone.
Brave soul! Daniel grinned. Well have to ask Pete who gave you that shove.
Dad, is this all you care about? Andrew shouted. Just because I was gone for twenty years, you think I can just disappear?
And what are you doing here, traitor? Margaret retorted.
What traitor? Andrew asked.
Because! a voice shouted from the kitchen shadows.
And whos this brave one? Andrew growled.
A figure stepped into the light.
That lad over there slapped me! Andrew pointed at a scruffy youth.
Good lad, grandson! Daniel beamed. You didnt miss a beat!
What grandson? Andrew stepped back, startled.
Exactly! Margaret covered him. Your son! Abandoned!
Ive never had a son! Andrew protested, voice shaking. Never. If I had, Id know.
Remember why you ran from the village twenty years ago? Daniel demanded, voice cracking.
***
Andrew never called his leaving a run; it was a planned move, just a bit earlier than intended, and there were a few reasons. Hed have to travel almost the whole country to get to the naval academy, and he wanted a job and a sidegig to support himself while studying. He was on a scholarship, but it barely covered a decent life, and asking his parents for money across the country was awkward they could only send food, and thats a nightmare to ship.
There was also a second reason. Right before he left, the village was buzzing with illomened gossip. If hed lingered a week or two, hed have missed his chance altogether. The local girls were swarming him, and that pushed him to get away.
When asked Why? hed have said, I want my life tied to the sea! I cant stay home while Im off on an adventure.
The sea entered his life by chance. After school he first did his national service, then signed up for the navy. A few years out at sea and he knew the land wasnt for him. When he returned, a posting to a marine engineering college was waiting. He could become a ships mechanic, but first he wanted a proper break.
Young men after the service have their own ways of blowing off steam its not a joke. They spend their time in one adventure after another, whether at the pub, in a boxing ring, or even with the opposite sex.
By the time Andrew started to figure things out, hed seen enough of those hardliving types. They come back from service like proud eagles, ready to change the world, only to be chained to a demanding wife, kids, and a farm. The eagle turns into a plucked chicken, ready for the pot.
Andrew didnt want that fate. No matter how wild the nights got, he kept his shirt on even sewing his own belt before heading out, tightening every bolt.
Sure, exposing his need wasnt easy, but better to suffer a little than spend a whole life in misery.
His reputation grew among village girls young, promising, with clear plans and no scandal attached. Yet every direction seemed to corner him: invitations, sweet promises, even delegations to his parents trying to broker a marriage.
Andrew saw the trap. He knew he couldnt hold the line. Either hed be overrun or his parents would be swayed. So he slipped out of the village a month and a half early.
As they say, Better safe than sorry.
He arrived at the port, signed on a ship, rented a bunk in a hostel, submitted his papers, got his acceptance letter, and wrote home to say hed made it, that everything was fine. The reply was a furious letter calling him a traitor, a coward, and all sorts of ugly names, because the paper will stand.
It even said there were no more parents for him, no home, and that his place was the deep sea.
Andrew was baffled, kept writing and writing, but never got a proper reply. When the diploma finally arrived, the only mail from home was a halfsheet note: May you drown! Traitor! Coward! signed not by his mother and father, but by Daniel Harper and Margaret Miller.
He never really understood why, just that they didnt want him back. So he signed a naval contract and sailed on. Every six months hed dock, send another letter, and head back out. He stopped waiting for answers.
At forty he finally decided it was time to find out what his parents had done twenty years ago that still haunted him.
The reunion was anything but warm, and full of surprises.
***
What were you running from? Andrew mimicked. Thinking I wasnt married off to some stranger? Did you think I hadnt seen the deals you made with half the village to set me up?
Yes, we wanted you a good match, and you ran off with Eleanor, the orphan! Margaret snapped. She came to us after you left, saying she was expecting a child, asking our advice. And we? We tossed our own grandson to fate?
When did she show up? Andrew asked. I wrote to you a month after I left, and you told me not to return!
Eleanor told us she was pregnant, and you told her to get an abortion and disappear from your life! Daniel retorted.
Interesting, Andrew said. What about you, after you kicked me out of the house?
We took her in! Shes an orphan, no one else. Shes carrying our grandchild! Look, we even raised Stan!
Call Eleanor over, Andrew demanded. We need to sort this.
There’s no one to sort with, Stan replied. My mum died ten years ago. Grandparents raised me.
Right, Andrew rolled his eyes. And the son met his dad eyetoeye!
You barely killed me by dumping my pregnant mum! Stan shouted. At least my grandparents were decent folks.
So youre all saints, and Im the traitor?
And a coward too! Daniel added. You shied away from responsibility and ran, sending that poor girl to an abortion!
Eleanor had told them shed given birth, yet you called her a liar in your last letter!
Did you see the letter? Andrew asked.
Unlike you, we believed the helpless girl! Margaret said.
Fine, then lets do a DNA test, Andrew suggested. If Im the father, you can crucify me on the doorstep!
The test came back negative. Andrew handed it to his parents.
Clear as day, he said. Eleanor knew I wasnt the father, but she came to you.
The problem isnt that you believed a lie, its that you accepted that your son was a coward and a traitor!
For twenty years you never forgave me. Now I dont need your forgiveness. I could say I pity you, but I dont. So goodbye, even though you said goodbye to me twenty years ago!
Andrew left, and Stan stayed, milking the old folks while insisting he was their beloved grandson, that the test was wrong, that his mother was a saint.
And thats the end of it.
