So Long and Goodnight...

“Alright, kid,” Your uncle said, placing a hand on your shoulder. “Let’s head inside, shall we.”

“Sure,” You smiled up at him, still trying to shake the terrible feeling of loss you felt at the guys’ absence.

You hesitated just a bit before stepping through the door to your house. You weren’t sure what state your father was in right now or what kind of footing he and Charlie were on. Charlie had never approved of his baby sister marrying your father and that was before he turned into an abusive drunk. You weren’t sure, though if your mother had ever told him about that or not. You felt like you were walking into a room filled to the brim with gunpowder holding nothing but a freshly lit match.

You took a deep breath, stepped through the threshold to your “home sweet Hell”, and closed the door behind you.

Your father and Jessica were sitting together on the couch in the brightly lit living room looking down right pleasant. A modern American family at it’s finest.

“Hi, baby girl,” Your father said when he saw you standing next to Charlie.

You managed to hold back the sickness that sprang up in the pit of your stomach as his words hit you. You were used to this when guests were in the house. Your father was a perfect gentleman and a model father. No one would ever think of him killing his wife and daughter and using his remaining offspring as a punching bag to vent his own tortured emotions. All they saw was a sweet man, an outstanding citizen, a great mechanic, and a perfectly kind hearted person who was mourning the death of his beloved family while putting up with his bratty teenage daughter to boot. Oh poor little Marshall, how ever do you cope?

“Hi,” You mumbled in reply.

“How was your weekend, sweet heart,” The slut on your couch asked light heartedly.

“Fine.” You stated in monotone as you tossed your bag near the stairs and headed to the kitchen to dig up whatever food you could find.

You felt your fathers hard, cold stare following you and suppressed a shiver.

“Charlie,” Your father addressed as if he was greeting an old friend. “Come on in. Have a seat.”

“Thank you,” Your uncle replied and lowered himself into a seat on the opposite couch.

“So how are things on the ranch?”

“Good. Everything’s real good. The herd’s getting bigger,” Charlie said referring to the wild horses that roamed the valley beneath his land and your ears perked up, hanging on every word. “Got a lot of new colts this year.”

“Well that sounds good,” Your father said lamely. You knew he didn’t give a shit about horses. It was all a show.

Finding nothing in the kitchen worth staying and listening to your fathers gratingly fake attitude, you stepped back in to the living room and addressed your uncle.

“Hey Uncle Charlie, I’m really sorry. I know you just got here and everything but I’m so tired. I barely slept last night.” At least that was the truth. “I hope you don’t mind if I go to bed a little early tonight. I promise we’ll spend this whole week together.”

Charlie smiled warmly at you and was just about to respond when “Daddy Dearest” butted in.

“Helena, don’t you think you should stay down here and be a good host for your uncle? He came all this way for you, you know.”

Good old Uncle Charlie leaped to your rescue.

“Now that doesn’t make any sense if you ask me. The poor girl’s tired. She deserves some shut eye and I don’t want her to be exhausted on my account.”

Your father looked defeated and angry but actually didn’t have a retort. You made a mental note to give Charlie a huge ass hug the next time you saw him.

“Alright,” Your dad mumbled waving you away with his hand.

You were a little torn. You wanted to get the hell away from your father and Jessica but you wanted to talk to your Uncle, see why he had really come. Since the boys’ had left there had been a change in the air around Charlie and you could tell he was here for more than just a simple visit. Charlie meant business. Just how much had him and your mother talked about before her sudden and untimely death? How much did he really know?

You felt defeated because you couldn’t let on that you weren’t really going to sleep and that you wanted your Uncle to come talk to you when the coast was clear.

…Then you remembered something out of the blue. The reason your mother had taken you and your sister to visit your Uncles ranch two years ago was because your father had started getting very violent around that time and your mom said that she wanted to get herself and her children away from him and let him cool down and think things through. But April, your sister, had a hunch that it was not the whole story. She was older and wiser than you and she understood these things far better back then.

She had also been an excellent spy.

During the course of your visit you had noticed that your mother had one phrase that she would say to Charlie and soon after she said it (not so that it was so blatantly obvious to the kiddies) he would drop what he was doing and follow her into whatever part of the house she had retreated to. The first few times it seemed like nothing at all to you and April but soon you got curious and April silently dropped in on the conversation.

Your mom had been crying and Charlie was consoling her. As April listened she discovered that Mom had found out about Dad’s “thing on the side” and was looking to the only person she could for support, her older brother, the one who had been there for her all her life. April tried to listen in more but Charlie had a very good sixth sense and it was almost like he could feel that they were not alone …so April bailed.

So the phrase your mom dropped at times was not just a random comment, as it had previously seemed. It was a secret code, probably stemming from their childhood together that meant “I need to talk with you about something that the people around us right now shouldn’t hear” and the message was received loud and clear every time.

You thought hard. What was it that your mother had said to him and how exactly had she said it?

You turned away from the group, trying not to look like you were scheming something, but merely going up to bed. You were stalling. And suddenly …it came to you.

You turned back to face them innocently.

“Goodnight,” You said just to get everyone’s attention.

“Goodnight,” they replied in unison.

“Oh and, Uncle Charlie,” You said carelessly making it sound like an after thought and nothing more. “I like your hair.”

You had said it exactly like you’d heard your mom say it before and it had worked. Instantly Charlie’s eyes instantly locked onto yours and he knew that it wasn’t just a casual comment. He nodded slightly to let you know that he’d gotten the message.

“Thanks, kid,” He said to play it off. “I’ll see you in the morning alright.”

He winked at you and you knew he hadn’t meant that.

“Sure thing,” you smiled.

Without another word, you turned on your heel, grabbed your bag, and scurried up the stairs to your room.