Stone Cold

“Yeah, it is. Just don’t make a habit out of it. Everybody really hates a loser.” He playfully slapped his son’s helmet. “And if you’re not going to eat those chips I’ll take ’em.” He grabbed the bag.

“Hey, those are mine. I earned them.”

“I thought you lost the game for your team.”

“The game wouldn’t have been close except for me.”

“Finally figured that out, did you? I knew you had the Fi

“Gee, Dad, thanks for all your support.”

“How about we grab some di

Patrick looked pleasantly surprised. “Just you and me?”

“Just you and me.”

“Won’t David be mad?”

“Your brother is thirteen. He doesn’t really like having his old man around all that much right now. I’m just not that cool or smart. That’ll change in about ten years when he’s in debt from college, can’t find a job and I’m suddenly brilliant again.”

“I think you’re smart. And cool.”

“That’s what I love about you.” As they walked back to the car, Fi

Laughing, Patrick said, “Dad, why do you keep carrying me around on your shoulders?”

Fi

“Is it that big of a deal?” Patrick said as he munched on his chips.

Fi

They ate at a local burger place about a mile from their house.

Patrick said, “I love this food; nothing but grease.”

“Enjoy it while you can. When you get to be my age, it’s not that easy on the body.”

Patrick stuffed a french fry in his mouth and said, “How’s Grandma?” Fi

“Okay. Well, actually not too great.”

“How come we never visit her anymore?”

“I’m not sure she’d want you to see her like she is now.”

“I don’t care about stuff like that. She was fun even if she talked a little fu

“Yeah, she was,” Fi

“You know, Dad, she doesn’t look very Irish.”

Fi

“You said he was a cool guy.”

“Very cool.”

“I wish I could’ve known him.”

Me too, thought Fi

“So where’s Grandma from, then?”

“Your grandmother was really from all over,” he answered vaguely.

When they got home Mandy met them at the door. After sending Patrick to get changed for bed she said, “Harry, you’re supposed to go into Susie’s class tomorrow. It’s parents’ career day.”

“Mandy, I told you I really don’t feel comfortable doing that.”

“All the other kids’ parents are doing it. We can’t leave Susie out. I’d go but I’m not sure cooking, cleaning and driving qualifies as a career.”

He gave her a kiss. “It does with me. You work harder than anybody I know.”

“You have to go, Harry. Susie will be so disappointed if you don’t.”

“Honey, come on. Give me a break.”

“Fine, but if you’re copping out, you go and tell her. She’s waiting up in bed.”

Mandy walked off, leaving Fi

Susie was sitting up in bed, surrounded by her stuffed animals. She had eleven of them she kept on her bed; she couldn’t go to sleep without them. She called them her guardian angels. Around the foot of the bed were ten more stuffed animals. These were her “Knights of the Round Table.”

Her big blue eyes looked up at him as she got right to the point. “Are you coming tomorrow, Daddy?”

“I was just talking to Mom about that.”

“Jimmy Potts’ mom came in today. She’s a marine biologist.” Susie formed the words slowly while she scratched her cheek. “I don’t know what that is, but, Daddy, she brought live fish.”

“That sounds really cool.”

“I know you’ll be cool too. I’ve been telling everybody about you.”

“What have you been telling them?” Susie had no idea what he did for a living.

“That you were a soldier.”

“Oh, that’s right, I was.”

“I’ve been telling everybody that you were in the navy. And that you were a walrus,” she added importantly.

Fi

“But you’ll be the best, Daddy, I know you will. Please come, please.” She tugged on his sleeve and then wrapped her arms around him.

In the face of this, what father could say no? “Okay, honey, I’ll be there.”

As he turned out the light and was leaving, Susie said, “Daddy, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“When you were a soldier, did you ever kill anybody?”

Fi

Susie added, “ ’Cause Joey Menkel said his dad killed lots of bad people in Iraq. And he’s a soldier too. So did you?”

Fi

“So did you?” she persisted.

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow, baby. Hope you sleep well.” He kissed her on the forehead and nearly sprinted from the room.

A minute later he was in the garage. He kept his gun safe here. It weighed nearly a thousand pounds and had a key, combo and biometric lock system that only he could open. He unlocked the heavy door and took out another, smaller box that also was key and combo protected. Opening that, he carried the file over to his workbench and started looking through it. The photos, the reports, were both now faded, yet they never failed to incite in him a nearly uncontrollable rage. He read the words aloud to himself: “Rayfield Solomon, Alleged Traitor, Commits Suicide in South America.” He looked at the photo of Rayfield Solomon, his father, a dead man with a hole in his right temple, and the legacy of having betrayed his country.

Fi

Yes, honey, Daddy has.

He locked the items back up and turned out the garage light. He didn’t return to the house. He went for a walk. He walked until it was midnight. When he got back to the house, everyone was long since asleep. His wife was used to his late-night ramblings around the neighborhood. He slipped into Susie’s room, sat on her bed and watched her chest rise and fall as she clutched one of her precious guardian angels.

When dawn came, Fi