Chapter 5

“Sterling. What a strong name. You are also well built, which means that our genes didn’t affect you in that way.” Reginald laughed as he spoke. Uncle Phil laughed as well. It must have been true, for Uncle Phil, Mom, and this man in front of me were solid, but slight. Thinking about it, I loathed that there was anything that I got from my father. It made me taste blood in my mouth. My mom never spoke ill of him, but she was never happy when she spoke about him either. I always felt that she was hiding something from me. I noticed, at that moment, how differently she didn’t speak about my father and grandfather. She kept tight lipped about my grandfather, but always seemed to want to tell me about him. She wasn’t that way about my father. She answered whatever I asked, but was never excited about it.

Reginald walked up to me and looked me up and down. “Stewart, I can’t believe you would mistake this young man for me. He is obviously much larger and his eyes are much more innocent. You are one handsome beast, If I do say so myself.” He laughed again. He had quite a sense of humor it seemed. I was expecting a cynical 60 something old man who didn’t like new people very much. Who liked to tell stories about how things were better back in the day. I was sorely mistaken. I looked at him. His face was bright as he introduced himself to everyone else. Not only did he look like a young man, he acted like one as well. 

“So what made you guys change your mind about us seeing each other, Billy. Is everything ok?” Reginald asked, suddenly serious.

“You could say that the situation has changed, Dad. If you read these, you will understand.” Uncle Phil pulled some files out of the satchel he had been carrying with him and handed them to Reginald. As I looked closer, I saw that they were the police reports from the fight. As he sat down to read them, he asked Stewart to bring in some cold beverages. He started with Kent’s file, and breezed through in seconds. I thought at the time that he must have just glanced at the sheets without much effort into what was on the pages themselves.