Reincarnated

I stood on the sidewalk, breathing in the fresh air from the North. Autumn has never been my favorite season, especially not here, in my hometown. I had grown up looking forward to the warm summer days when school is out and the sprinklers are on in every yard with children running through the streams of water, shrieking with unsuppressed excitement. But today…today, the street was silent. Colorful leaves blew across my path, twirling and whispering. I could hear the gentle plop-plop of rain dripping from a leaky gutter. I sighed deeply.
There, in front of me, was my home. I had only been gone less than a year, such a short time compared to most, and yet the sight of it filled me with yearning. It was mostly the same, except for the brightly lit jack-o-lanterns flickering their eerie smiles at me from the porch. Yes, I thought, it was almost Halloween.
I slowly started walking, noticing briefly my father’s jeep in the driveway. It was parked in exactly the same spot as I’d seen it last, which brought me comfort. I didn’t see mom’s car, but that didn’t matter. Mom was always home when dad was. That’s what I liked about my family; we were always together, except for me.
There were exactly four steps between the porch and the driveway, and I avoided stepping on the third one because it always creaked. I walked onto the solid wood and up to the screen door, my nerves slightly shaken. I knocked.
It didn’t take long for the front door to swing open. I observed mom peer out at me through the mesh of the screen door, squinting slightly.
“Hi, mom,” I said to her.
And she squealed. I had to step back quick, so the door wouldn’t hit me in the face. Before I could gather my thoughts, her arms were around me and she was gushing.
“Stephen! Oh, Stephen! What are you doing…oh, Jimmy, it’s Stephen! My boy is home!” I saw dad step into the doorway behind her, his face curious. She turned to him, smiling big, and pointed at me as if he couldn’t see for himself. I had to laugh.
“Mah, catch a breath. I guess the surprise worked, huh?” She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and took me in, uniform and all. Dad stepped out onto the porch and embraced me, his arms strong as always. “Son, I thought you weren’t supposed to be in until Christmas?” he asked, smoothing out the material of my jacket. I went ahead and took the liberty of leading them inside out of the chill. When we were all in, I turned to them and smiled. “Things changed. I took leave early. I won’t be here for Christmas, and that’s a sorry bit, but better now than never right?” They both agreed that it was all right and we went to the kitchen, so mom could feed me a “proper, home-cooked meal”. I didn’t mind so much because eating in the chow hall hadn’t been my favorite thing to do. Of course, I had to tell them all about Bosnia and being stationed there for six months (my first official assignment after graduating Army boot camp), but I honestly had nothing to tell. Eventually, mom sent me to bed, despite me being almost nineteen and an adult in everyone else’s eyes. I didn’t mind that either. I was dog-tired, and I couldn’t’ wait to get out of all my military attire and into some civilian clothes as soon as possible. And as I lay in bed, I thought that life couldn’t get any better. I was a man, serving my duty in the United States Army. I had a great family to come home to, and thirty days to relax and kick back. I turned over onto my side and looked out of my childhood bedroom window at the stars. Tomorrow, I would call the guys (the ones who stuck around after high school), and maybe we’d hit up some of the old meeting places. And since it was almost Halloween, I was sure there would be some great parties. This was the time to meet some girls, drink some beer, and have some fun. I smiled to myself. Yeah, thirty days to do whatever the hell I wanted, no problems and no commitments. But what I didn’t realize then was that a lot can happen in a month, or even in one day.