Abe's Misadventures 14

Can't Go Home Again

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]Abe arrived home mid-day the second of August. It was a scorcher. His brother Ken greeted him at the door.

"You don't have to knock," said Ken, "You live here, remember."

"It felt funny. It's been a while," replied Abe.

"Well, come on in and take a load off," laughed Ken, patting Abe on the back.

Abe entered the house, looking around at all the small details he remembered and some he had forgotten.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" asked Abe.

"Mom's at work. Dad's napping. He's slowed down a bit since you last saw him," Ken explained after seeing Abe's surprise.

"How serious?"

"He's gotta pacemaker," said Ken quietly, "Can't quite go at it like he used to."

"Now I'm back I can help out, take some of the load off."

"Don't sweat it. We hired a couple kids to pick up the slack. They're workin’ out just great."

"I was planning to come back and pick up where I left off anyway."

"Whoa, don't get too far ahead of yourself there. Take some time to see how things are going."

"I mentioned in my letters I was thinking of working on the ranch while going to school."

"Don't get too set on things you don't know anything about," cautioned Ken, "You've been out of it for a while."

"What are you getting at?"

"Things are a little rocky 'tween Mom and Dad. They don't need any more pressure right now."

"I'm bringing pressure?"

"Don't get all sensitive."

"I'm not being sensitive, I'm just asking," said Abe a little more emphatically.

"Cool off man," Ken said through gnashed teeth, "You're back five minutes and already gettin' bitchy."

Abe took a deep breath and counted to five. He still felt agitated, so he walked into the living room and sat down. He mused the quote by Thomas Wolfe, "Don't you know you can't go home again?" as he slowly exhaled. Ken went to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of beers, came to the living room, and offered one to Abe.

"Let's toast your safe return," Ken said evenly.

Abe accepted the beer, wanting to diffuse the situation.

“To safe returns,” Ken toasted, holding up his beer.

“To safe returns,” said Abe, touching cans.

Ken grabbed the remote and turned on the television. The news was filled with the Iraq invasion of Kuwait.

“Holy shit,” said Ken, “Did you know about this?”

Abe just shook his head, stray thoughts of being called back to duty passed through his mind.

“Man, Mom and Dad would be freakin’ if you were still in,” said Ken absently.

“Nah, they’d be worried if you could get a student exemption like Dad.”

“What are you talkin’ about?”

“Oh, come on, we’ve talked about this before. Firstborn favorite,” Abe said with a chuckle.

“Puh-leeze, baby of the family.”

Abe let the argument slide. There was no winning it. Ken would never accept the many ways he was favored.

Ken and Abe indulged in a few more beers before their father wandered in from the bedroom and mother returned from the job at the university. Abe could feel the tension Ken had talked about, his parents avoided one another, taking turns talking with him.

Abe avoided mentioning wanting to return to work on the ranch and focused on plans for getting into the university.

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