[ti]solo[/ti]Black Valentine

“I don’t know how much you remember, if at all. The Doc called it dissociative amnesia, and warned that it’s usually brief. By some luck, or perhaps misfortune, you just never really remembered what happened.” Troy would shake his head. “We waffled back and forth on what to tell you for days, and soon days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months and well, I wasn’t in the best of places either so your gramps made the executive decision that we were gonna let the cards fall as they may. Something about if God wanted you to know you’d find out.”

Orion’s eyes narrowed, but his father pacified him by raising a hand up defensively. “For fucks sake kid, you were elven and the shock had turned you into a ghost. We were just grateful you’d come back to us at all, let alone without that weight on your shoulders. I’m not saying it was the right thing to do, but at the moment it seemed like the best course of action.”

Another sip of bourbon reached his fathers lips as the man grumbled a bit. “Anyways, it was your eleventh birthday and the weather was unseasonably nice out. Groundhog’d seen his shadow, and we were well on our fuckin way to a nice spring.” The notion caused his father to grimace. “Weatherman said it was gonna be sunny and nice so you were begging us to do a cook-out.”

“I…” Orion drawled. “Yeah, I remember that I really wanted you to make burgers.”

“Oh christ buddy” Troy and both his brothers were doing their best to stifle a chuckle. “It was all you could fucking talk about, and you and your mother, bless her soul. She would tee you up every chance you could get to go off about how you wanted to learn my recipe and how you wanted to cook like pops”

“Oh brother” Joey would puff his cigar and shake his head. “When your old man caved you were so stoked, and your mother had you help plan every little detail down to the drinks. And then you went to the grocery store with her all beaming and bright, you even gave the clerk the cash n everything.”

Silence filled the room.

“I think I’ve got some pictures runnin round somewhere.” Troy added, “Probably in the storage unit. With the rest of your mom’s stuff.”

What little brevity had been building up soured as the trio remembered exactly how the story went.

“Where was I?” Troy asked taking a pause to swig down some more booze. Orion mirrored the motion.

“I bought the groceries for the cook out.”

“Right.”