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One day, out of the blue, Carl walked down to the corner store for a pack of smokes.
Or, it wasn’t out of the blue. And he didn’t end up buying the cigarettes, let alone smoking them. The moment his fingertips brushed that rough paper of the box, he became suddenly aware of what he was doing. That he should be home right now, that he was taking his first step towards a path he didn’t want to take. He stumbled back, eyes wide, until his shoulders hit the aisles behind him. The uncomfortable plastic of the sale signs poked him in the soft, vulnerable skin of his back. If he pressed, he doubted it would draw blood but the sensation was still sharp enough to ground him.
In his mind, Carl suddenly saw Sandra. His wife, oh his wonderful wife, with the most peculiar expression on her face. A disappointed one. Disappointed but understanding. That was somehow worse. It was so vivid that he almost believed she was standing right there in front of him. Had he seen it before? Maybe. He couldn’t recall at the moment. Maybe sometime when he let Ben and his cousins run in the sprinklers and they tracked water in the house. Or maybe that time he missed Ben’s birthday. It was just one year and he felt so bad that he never let it happen again. Ben was probably too young to remember but Carl’s guilt was enough motivation that his wife’s disappointment barely left a dent. But none of those incidents would be like this.
He pictured Ben. What would he think if his old man came home smelling like smoke? That distinct smell of a cigarette, not that wonderful smell of a campfire. Would he notice? Would he say anything? Would he draw conclusions but keep quiet about it, letting them linger in the back of his mind long into adulthood? Or would he forget? Carl didn’t like the thought of any of that and he was out the door before he could let himself get carried away in his unhappy fantasies.
“Hey, man. Are you okay?”
Carl’s head snapped up. He’d gone on autopilot again. Just like he had when he came here. He suddenly realized he was about to step off the curb. Nothing dangerous but he could slip if he wasn’t careful. And at his age, with his knees, it was truly a blessing that someone stopped him. Wait, someone stopped him?
“I…”
A man approached. Not one Carl knew but one he recognized. A neighbor, likely. The father of some kid that went to Ben’s school, though a couple years younger. Carl thought they’d spoken once or twice at fundraisers or something. Good guy, from what he knew about him. He looked worried.
“Is something wrong?” he asked. His voice was so genuine that Carl felt his stomach twist. He didn’t deserve that kind of genuinity. “Do you need help?”
“No.” Carl shook his head, some of the sensation coming back to his body. The fog around his brain was clearing and he was starting to become more aware of what he was doing. “I’m just worried about my kid. Nothing’s wrong! He’s fine. Safe. Just at home with my wife. I’m just worried. I’m… I’ll call my brother.”
Yeah… Yeah. Frank would know what to do. Frank always knew what to do. What to say.
The man looked relieved and nodded along. He clapped Carl’s shoulder, giving it a friendly rub. “You do that, man. I’m going to head inside and get my shopping done but don’t hesitate to holler if you need something.”
Carl smiled at him. “Thank you. Really, I mean it.”
The man returned the smile and turned away. Carl let out a long breath, rubbing a hand over his face, before getting down to sit at the edge of the curb. It was dirty and somewhat damp but Carl didn’t really care right now. His clothes could always get washed. He didn’t have that kind of fortune.
He fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed up Frank’s number. He didn’t even glance at the contacts. Maybe it was faster but the familiar motion made him feel better. Was he panicking? He didn’t think so. He didn’t really panic. And he’d found out about Ben a week ago. Why would he only be reacting now? Oh, Frank was answering.
“Carl?” Frank’s voice was… Well, Carl was never good at describing things. Not like Sandra. Heck, even Ben was coming along to be a pretty good writer. He took after his mother in the academic sense. That was a good thing, Carl thought. But there was this tone in the voice that was halfway between mundane and troubled.
“Hey, Frank,” Carl greeted softly. Too softly maybe. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Hey, Frank. You got a minute?”
“Yeah. I was just getting ready to turn in. What’s up?”
Carl fiddled with his sleeve. He hadn’t realized how late it’d gotten. Part of him wanted to let his brother rest, even if the rational part of his brain told him that Frank really wouldn’t mind. Besides, he doubted it could wait until morning. He’d been so close to turning to drugs as an outlet. He didn’t even like smoking. And they weren’t even anything mind altering like weed or alcohol. What in the world had he been thinking? Stupidity for stupidity’s sake?
“I’m worried about Ben. He’s fine,” Carl added quickly, remembering the passerby’s alarmed look. “It’s just… When was the last time you remember we saw anything alien?”
“You found out about the Omnitrix, didn’t you?”
Of all things, Carl wasn’t expecting that . “What?”
Frank always did this thing when he was uncomfortable or nervous. This tug of his collar and this stretch of his lip. Carl could picture Frank doing it right now. “Ben… How do I explain this?”
Yeah, how could you explain this, Frank? How could you tell your brother that you knew his son had an alien device stuck to his wrist before he did? How did you explain not telling him? Carl thought Frank trusted him more than that. No, this wasn’t even a trust thing. There was an obligation. Carl was Frank’s brother. They’d been together through thick and thin. They told each other everything. Well, maybe not anymore. But they did once and the strength of that bond was still there. And more importantly, Carl was Ben’s father. He had every right to know.
But, he couldn’t find it in himself to be angry. Carl knew he didn’t have the whole story. Normally that didn’t stop him but he supposed when it came down to it, he trusted his brother. Even if there was a chance he didn’t trust him.
“Mom came to visit last month. Gwen, uh, Gwen inherited the spark,” Frank told him gently. Carl nearly dropped his phone. He tried to open his mouth to say something but the words got caught in his throat. Frank let out a chuckle. Carl bet he knew he was gaping like a fish right now. He always did and Frank always laughed. Ever since they were kids. “I wish I could say I was surprised but I really wasn’t. I wish I’d- Well, I wish I’d told her sooner. She thought it was magic of all things. Had a spellbook and everything.”
Carl understood where he was coming from. He too wished many things, most of them surrounding Ben. He should’ve known that all this alien stuff wouldn’t leave when his mother left. And it wasn’t like she wasn’t coming back. The Tennysons would always be tied to anything alien. Their fate was sealed when his father fell for an Anodite. It was out of his hands. He should’ve known better than to hide from it.
“Mom came for her. She wanted to take Gwen back to her homeplanet. Ben and Kevin- have you met Kevin? Gwen’s got a boyfriend now, apparently- fought her a bit. They couldn’t beat her, obviously, but they put up a good fight. All three of them have powers. Ben, Gwen, and Kevin, that is. It was really something to see.”
“I’ll bet.” He’d met Kevin. And seen his powers. Not really something he’d want Ben hanging around with but Ben and Gwen cared about him and his heart seemed to be in the right place so he couldn’t complain. Carl and Frank had worse friends at their age.
“I wanted to tell you about the Omnitrix but Ben asked me not to,” Frank explained. Carl wished he could see his face right now. Maybe it would help him believe it. “I thought it should be his decision. It felt… wrong to violate his trust like that. I mean, he’s my nephew. Your son! You understand, right Carl?”
“Yeah.” Yeah, he did. He didn’t like it but he did.
“So I’m guessing Ben finally told you?”
“Not exactly.” Carl grimaced. He extended a foot, tapping a puddle in the road, making it ripple. “Sandra and I saw him fighting an alien and Ben came home with a black eye. We didn’t… We didn’t react well.”
“Oh.”
“I tried getting it off him.”
“ Oh .”
“I didn’t, y’know, hurt him. But- the thought… It crossed my mind. Just for a split second. And it’s all I’ve been thinking of ever since. I mean- Frank, he’s my son. He’s my boy. How could I… What kind of father would- I can’t even say it.”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Frank soothed as Carl buried his face in his free palm. His throat was starting to tighten, like he was about to cry. He wasn’t, not if he had anything to say about it, but finally voicing those thoughts… it was like a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulder. But it also made it all feel that much more real. Like he’d cemented his fate.
Whatever fate that was, he probably deserved it.
“You’re human,” Frank started but Carl cut him off with a noise of protest.
“Technically, I’m not.”
“You’re mostly human,” Frank corrected. “You were raised human. You have the heart of a human. And it’s human nature to stray sometimes. We have moments of weakness, Carl, and we can say or think terrible things. But you didn’t act on them, did you?”
“...No.”
“And all the thoughts stayed in your head?”
“It was only for a moment.”
“And you were horrified, right?”
“Yes. Yes! Frank, you have no idea. I would never.”
“And that’s what matters. You were horrified, Carl. That says more about you than any thoughts you might’ve had.”
Carl could feel his heart beating. “You think?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, I’m no professional but your wife sent me a study recently to help me with one of my cases. You really should read some of those articles she’s always looking at, Carl. I’ll say, some of them are kind of out there but there’s some good stuff to them. Good article, this one. Didn’t help but it was a good read.”
Carl laughed and wiped his face. “I’ll think about it, Frank. I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I need to hear. You should really talk about this with Sandra. I’m sure she’s just as torn up inside as you are, Carl.”
“Sandra? No, she’s practically made of steel. Learning about Ben was a surprise, sure, but-”
“Carl?”
“Yeah?”
“She called Natalie. She said the same about you. You two both see each other as these pillars of strength but it’s okay to learn on each other once in awhile. No, it’s more than okay. It’s healthy.”
“I thought you were a lawyer,” Carl joked, “not a counselor.”
“Like I said, thank your wife. She’s the one always finding these articles and videos. I’m just repeating what I hear. And Carl, it’s okay to get a real counselor if you need it.”
Some of the lightness of the conversation dipped. “I don’t think I’d be comfortable telling someone about Ben. Or Gwen. Or Mom. I know legally they can’t tell anyone-”
“-and if they did, your handy lawyer brother would be there in a heartbeat.”
“-but it just feels like a big step.”
“Hey, I understand. I thought about it a bit, just to make sure no miscommunication gets built up, but it didn’t feel right. Talking to Mom helped. Maybe you could try calling her?”
“She doesn’t have a phone.”
“Yeah.”
“And I don’t think I’m ready to reach out again. I mean, I don’t think I’ve even seen her since she left. If I talked to her, I don’t think Ben would be at the front of my mind.”
“I understand that. I wish Dad was still around.”
“Yeah.” For all their differences, Carl knew he really could use his father right now. “I do too.”
Carl saw Ben on the news for the first time while he was out for coffee.
It was a weekly thing, every Sunday for probably a good ten years. Carl would head to the local coffee shop to meet up with some of the guys around the block and talk about whatever. More the state of the world than their personal lives but it was still a nice thing. He liked the consistency, even if he didn’t always love the conversation. Or company. The company was kind of garbage. Why was it he went to these things again?
Sometimes Sandra came along. She was a bit less, uh, tolerant than he was. She could stay polite but once they left, she always told Carl she couldn’t understand how he could stand those guys. The Tennysons weren’t a political family but they had values and these guys didn’t share them.
Ben came along sometimes. Most of the guys were a fair bit older than Carl and their kids were all grown up. They loved having little Ben running around. So much that the conversation steered away from all those things that made Carl go quiet and look away and more towards the old days, the fond memories of youth and the happy days of parenthood.
Ben didn’t come along much anymore. Even when he was a kid, he didn’t really like waking up to go on a walk on the weekends, even if he got his favorite milk from the coffee shop and got to spend the morning listening to stories. Now, Ben had better things to do. Homework, hanging out with friends, sleeping, video games… Carl wondered where the years had gone.
“Isn’t that your boy?”
It wasn’t that Ben didn’t spend time with him anymore. He did. And he didn’t treat it like a chore or anything. Carl had to admit, sometimes he acted that way around his own father. Less now, Max’s disappearance had been enough of a scare to tame some of the family tension, but it still happened. Ben was just… Well, he was like Max. He was always off doing things Carl couldn’t understand. Teenage things and alien things. One, maybe, he could handle but two-
“Carl,” a voice cut in, interrupting his thoughts. Carl glanced over to see one of his buddies staring at him. He pointed at the TV screen. “Isn’t that your boy?”
Carl looked up. Everyone was looking up. Ben couldn’t be on TV, could he? Was he alright?
It was a rather unflattering picture of Ben. Carl would never say it to his face but Ben wasn’t exactly photogenic, even when he tried. The picture was taken at a bad angle. Clearly, Ben hadn’t been paying attention. His arms were raised, like he was getting ready to defend himself. Had someone taken the picture without his knowledge?
The volume was too low for Carl to hear. Or maybe it was off entirely. Restaurants usually didn’t have the volume on for these things. Too much background noise. Carl didn’t know if he wished he could hear it or if he was glad that he couldn’t. He didn’t need to hear what the newscaster was saying to understand what was happening.
Images and videos of Ben’s aliens flashed across the screen. Carl didn’t know all of their names. There was that big, brown dinosaur and that thin purple guy made of rocks. There was a tiger too, Carl had never seen that one. How many forms did Ben have that Carl didn’t know about? He’d like to find out but not like this.
There wasn’t any footage of Ben transforming but it was impossible not to realize what was being insinuated.
In Carl’s growing horror, he hardly noticed everyone’s gazes turning towards him until one of them spoke.
“That’s your kid, right? Benny’s a shape-changing freak. What’s that make you?”
An alien. Half of one, at least. But he didn’t have the spark and he didn’t pass it to Ben. This was all Ben. And Ben- Oh Ben was just a kid. Carl had his whole adult life to come to terms with his less than human DNA but he’d never been outed like this. It was a secret, something only his closest kin knew. But Ben-
“I have to go,” Carl said suddenly, getting up. The chairs here always made this terrible noise when they scraped the ground. This time was no exception. Everyone looked at him, standing with his hands on the table with an ill look on his face. He didn’t even muster an awkward, apologetic smile before he bolted out the door.
Carl couldn’t remember the last time he’d run. He’d like to think he was in good shape for his age but any optimism went out the window anytime he tried moving faster than a light jog. His heart screamed in his chest and all the activity was making his already uneasy stomach feel worse. It wasn’t even that far, only a couple of blocks, but by the time he was at the door fumbling for his keys, he felt like he was going to vomit.
“Carl?” Sandra sounded worried when he burst through the door. And maybe a little scared. His heart went out for her but he was too out of breath to really explain much.
“Turn on the news,” he rasped as he leaned over, putting his hands on his knees to try to help his breathing regulate again. He glanced at Ben. His hair was messy, like he’d just woken up and hadn’t combed it yet. He looked confused but there was something else in his eye. Carl didn’t want to figure out what it was. “Maybe you should go back to bed, Ben.”
Now Ben looked alarmed. “What? Why? You’re always telling me to get up earlier. What’s wrong?”
Sandra already had the remote in her hand. Carl’s fingers itched to reach out for Ben but he knew it was inevitable. Ben had to find out eventually. It was better he did it here with his parents than in public with friends or worse, alone.
“Which channel?” Sandra asked but she already hit the button and Ben’s aliens were already on the screen.
“Is that… Is that Humungousaur?” Ben asked slowly. Sandra quickly hit the button, changing the channel like that would change what Ben had seen. It only made things worse. “Is that Rath?!”
Carl’s eyes widened as the shock sent his body rigid. Ben was on all of the channels. Even the ones that weren’t supposed to be news channels. Carl understood why logically but emotionally, he didn’t. It made his blood boil. Clearly Ben didn’t know about this. Who would subject a kid to such a thing?
“There’s Chromastone and… And is that- Wait. Why do they have a picture of me? How do they have a picture of me?”
Sandra hit the power button, turning it off, but the damage was done. Both parents watched Ben nervously, looking for any readable hint of emotion in that shocked, vacant expression of his. Carl would take anything right now. Yelling, crying, anything. Anything would be better than this silence.
“I- I’m going to call Gwen. And Kevin. And Julie,” Ben said slowly. Carl felt a muted blow to his chest. Of course. Of course Ben would turn to his friends to support. They’d understand in a way that his parents couldn’t. He knew it was the right choice but still, it hurt.
Carl realized Ben was waiting for something. He gave him a nod, silently dismissing him. Ben leaped out of his chair and ran to his room, phone in hand. Carl heard it slam shut with a bit more force than necessary. He didn’t yell for him to be more careful than he usually did.
The moment Ben was out of sight, Carl sank to his knees, all the thoughts and feelings catching up with him. Sandra came to his side, crouching down and putting her arms around him. Carl could see the tears in her eyes. Part of him wanted to tell her to let them fall, not to keep them inside. Another part of him knew that if she cried, he had no idea how he’d react. Worse than her, probably. Ben was just in the other room. He didn’t want his son to see him cry.
“What are we going to do?” he whispered, pulling Sandra a bit closer so they were sitting next to each other on the living room floor. “What can we do?”
“Be there for Ben,” Sandra told him with so much conviction that for a moment, Carl thought everything was going to be okay.
“...our top story, it’s gotta be Ben Tennyson.”
Carl jabbed a finger in one ear and pressed his phone against the other. He didn’t want to hear that same clip on the TV again. This had to be the sixth or seventh time he’d heard it today. And it was barely past noon. He understood that Ben needed to see it but god, it was upsetting to listen to. And it wasn’t like they didn’t have things to do other than listen to the news.
“Hey, this is Carl. I’m calling in to let you know I won’t be coming in today,” Carl said into the phone. A voicemail, thankfully. He didn’t know if he could handle a conversation with his boss right now. “There’s, uh, a bit of a family emergency. And my driveway’s blocked. So, uh, I’ll try to get whatever I can done here at home and I’ll… call you back, I guess.”
“...one boy alien invasion.”
Kevin and Gwen were over. Carl was glad but Ben wasn’t really being receptive to their presence. He was happy to see them, of course, but he wasn’t… Carl expected Ben to be more open about his feelings with his friends. Not that he was eavesdropping or anything. It was just, y’know, a small house. Voices carried. But Ben was acting like nothing was wrong. Complaining, sure, but it was superficial. Nothing felt real. Maybe with time.
“Mom, Dad,” Ben called from the other room. Carl’s head snapped up. “I’m going to lay low at Julie’s. Maybe the reporters will realize I’m not here and leave you guys alone for a bit.”
Carl wanted to say he didn’t have to do that but he kept his mouth shut for a multitude of reasons. He heard the door swing open and the commotion outside grow louder, only to be interrupted by a loud roar. Humungousaur, Carl now recognized. Tires screeched against the asphalt as news trucks sped away. Maybe he could pull his car out of the garage now. He wouldn’t but he could if he wanted to.
The moment the kids were gone, Carl and Sandra practically sprinted into the living room and plopped themselves down on the couch in front of the TV. They’d put off watching the news while Ben was here but now that he was gone, they had to see what the media was saying about their boy.
Will Harangue’s tirade was circuiting the main news channel again. Carl didn’t hesitate to turn up the volume and let it play.
“Welcome back to the Will Harangue Nation-”
Ugh. Egotistical name, much?
“-where our top story’s gotta be Ben Tennyson: sixteen year-old high school student who’s been outed as a one man- or should I say boy- alien invasion.”
Carl’s fingers tightened around Sandra’s hand, careful not to hurt her but silently expressing the rage he felt inside him. Judging by Sandra’s sharp expression, she felt the same way.
“Footage gathered over the past year but only now do we understand that all of these seemingly unconnected attacks-”
Attacks? Ben was saving a bridge from collapsing in that footage! Anyone could see that. What was this guy’s angle? If it was views, heroes got more attention than villains. And where was his moral compass? Ben was just a kid for crying out loud!
“-where the work of Ben Tennyson in his various alien disguises for who knows what sinister purpose.”
Sinister his eye. Ben was the farthest thing from sinister since puppies were invented.
“Unbelievably, some people defend the actions of Tennyson, claiming he’s some kind of superhero. Obviously ridiculous but that’s not for me to say. No, I leave that to you, the viewer and tonight’s poll. Ben Tennyson: threat or menace. Call in with your vote.”
The tactics were obvious. Anyone with half a mind could recognize the bias and clear agenda against Ben. He’d like to have a little more faith in the people of Bellwood but he knew more people than he cared to count would be buying into this stuff, even people who’d known Ben his whole life. This guy was ruining Ben’s future and chance at a normal life.
“Can- can we sue?” Carl asked aloud, not knowing what else to say. “I mean, Ben’s a minor. These photos and videos were taken without his consent. And this is slander. That’s illegal, right?”
“I think this is actually libel but you’re right, dear. It is illegal.” Sandra sighed and turned down the volume as more footage of Ben’s aliens played. “I don’t know if confronting it is the right decision though.”
“What do you mean? They did something wrong. Should we let them get away with it?”
“Frank’s a good lawyer but even he can’t go up against so many big media companies. And even if they’re the ones spreading this- this misinformation, they’re not the ones who outed Ben.”
“So what are you saying? That we should figure out who started this?”
“No,” Sandra told him firmly, taking his hand and looking him in the eye. “Let Ben handle it. We’ll be there for him, of course, and if he does want to take a legal approach, we’ll help him but this is his life. He should get to decide what this means for him.”
Carl knew that was the right approach, to be a supportive parent and not a controlling one. It didn’t mean he was happy about it. “Alright.”
“Alright?”
“Ben should decide,” Carl told her, trying his best to muster a smile as he leaned his head against her shoulder, “and we’ll be there if he needs it.”
Ben doesn’t need it.
He gets used to fame. He joins the Plumbers. Kevin and Gwen leave. Rook comes. Carl hopes.
Ben still doesn’t open up.
He asks Rook about it once. Carl doesn’t see the guy much. He got a promotion recently and that meant longer hours. Unfortunately, that also means less time at home but he tries when he can. Sandra and Ben seem to have accepted Rook into the family so Carl doesn’t question it when he comes home one day and finds Ben across the street with the neighbor’s dog and Rook inside trying to stack Sandra’s fake fruit display into a little tower on the living room table.
“Mr. Tennyson,” Rook states, sounding surprised, when Carl comes through the door. He doesn’t jump up but his expression is akin to a deer in the headlights. Not a hard expression to match with those big orange eyes of his.
“At ease, soldier,” Carl jokes, putting down his bag and turning to take off his coat. “And call me Carl. Mr. Tennyson was my father.”
“Actually, I call your father Magister Tennyson.”
Carl nearly does a double take. He looks up, expecting to see a glint of humor in the alien’s eye, but the serious look etched on his face tells him Rook isn’t kidding. “Um, it’s just a saying on Earth. You know, a way to ease the tension. Using titles is so formal.”
“Oh. Thank you… Carl,” Rook says slowly, like he’s experimenting with the new name in his mouth. He looks a bit awkward. Carl wonders if that’s just how he is or if he’s uncomfortable being alone with his friend’s father for the first time. He expects a bit of both. “How was your day?”
“Just a normal day at the office,” Carl responds, putting his coat on the hangar. The frozen moment is ended and Rook resumes his little game of stacking the fruit. He has remarkable patience, Carl realizes. He’s balancing bananas on apples at angles he didn’t think was possible. “I’ll bet your day with Ben was a lot more excitement.”
Rook snorted, not looking up from his task. “Not especially. Our whole day was kind of a wild moose chase. Billy Billions hired Fistrik and Fistina as guards so Ben wanted to follow them around all day to see if they got into any trouble. Fistina and Fistrik ended up trying to rob him and Ben stepped in but I think Billy could have handled it on his own. I do not know if it was worth all the cameras on us all day.”
That caught Carl’s attention. “There were cameras?”
Rook nodded. “Billy Billions and Ben Tennyson are big names. The media is very interested whenever they interact. I think they were interested in some scandal coming out of this but I am not sure. I do not really understand the motives of Earth newsmen. On Revonnah, any news is passed through word of mouth between neighbors. We do not hear about things that do not directly concern us and we respect the privacy of others.”
That sounded nice. Limiting, maybe, but nice. “How does Ben handle it?”
“Excuse me?”
“How does Ben handle the attention?” Carl asked. He tried to sound more confident than he actually was but he really felt all kinds of awkward asking Ben’s friend about him behind his back. He had a right to as his parent, he knew, but it still felt wrong. “I worry about him. Kids his age should be playing sports and going on dates and- They should be doing normal kid stuff. Not posing for the cameras.”
“Ben still does ‘normal kid stuff,’” Rook told him, doing air quotes. Carl smiled faintly. Ben must have taught him that. “He is playing fetch right now. And we got smoothies this morning.”
Carl gave Rook a knowing look. Rook let out a long breath.
“I know what you mean,” the Revonnahgander admitted. He sat up straight, toying with a bunch of plastic grapes in his hands. Carl hoped someone told him those were fake at some point. He’d check them for teeth marks once he left. “I too worry for him. He is always smiling but I have learned that it is not always real. The way he smiles for the cameras is different from the way he smiles when- when we are playing soccer in undertown with Ester and our Kinceleran friends. Or when Blukic and Driba make him something. Not for a mission, just for fun. And when we go shopping with Magister Tennyson, he makes these awful faces at the food but Ben is always smiling when he thinks no one is looking. He never makes those faces on the surface streets though.”
Carl felt a pang in his chest. He didn’t understand much of what Rook had said. Had it come to that? Where the sphere of his son’s life was so far from his own that they barely overlapped? It hurt but Carl understood one good thing from that. “So he does still smile? Real smiles?”
Rook nodded. “Yes. He does.”
Carl felt a lot lighter. “Thank you, Rook. For telling me those things.”
Rook’s eyes glowed. Carl had the feeling he understood.
He was just walking down the street on his lunch break.
It was a beautiful day. The hot season was coming to an end but it wasn’t quite cold yet. Cooler and the leaves were starting to change color. Just barely but the hints were there. Carl thought about taking some pictures in case Sandra forgot. She loved those before and after pictures of trees in the fall. Watching them change color was one thing but she always wanted to document it so she could look at it whenever she wanted. She always forgot though. Or something would happen and she’d miss taking a vital picture. Maybe if he lent a hand this year, she’d finally get them all. He was far from a good photographer but something was better than nothing, right?
Any thoughts on helping out his wife faded when he saw him.
He looked different now. Green skinned, three eyed. Carl wouldn’t say hideous but he was. Not because he was an alien. No, Carl stopped thinking those kinds of things a long time ago. It was just him. Carl didn’t think hideous was even close to a word precise enough to capture his feelings about him.
His voice carried across the park reaching a pitch that made Carl want to tear his hair out. That was what first alerted Carl to his presence. That voice, how could he not recognize it? Nearly two years had passed and he still listened to the news clips almost obsessively. He had to know. He had to know what kind of venom this man was spitting, the lies he was telling the world about his boy. It probably wasn’t good for him but it was better Carl listened than Sandra and it was better Sandra than Ben.
They were walking in the same park but not the same pathway. There were a few strips of concrete cutting through the grass and trees, all interconnected. Their paths ran perpendicular. At their speed, they wouldn’t bump into each other. Carl would walk past the intersection and nothing would happen. They’d just pass and no one would know they saw each other.
Carl sped up.
And then he was running.
“Harangue!”
His voice was enough to make Harangue look up from his phone call. A few other park visitors looked up as well. Maybe a couple of them pulled out their phones, hoping to catch some excitement on camera. Carl didn’t care. Maybe there would be some legal repercussions and Frank would have to save him. Maybe Sandra would see and give her that disappointed yet understanding look that made his skin crawl. Maybe Ben would see. He didn’t want Ben to see. He didn’t care right now though.
His fist connected with Harangue’s face before he realized it was happening. Frank had dated a girl on the wrestling team in high school. She’d given him enough pointers for Carl to remember how to throw a punch without breaking his thumbs. It felt good, just cutting loose and throwing all the power of his body into one, single blow. Years of silent anger and bubbling worry were getting released all at once and Carl loved it.
Harangue was floored and Carl felt satisfaction spread through his body. He was expecting the guy to stumble back a step at most. This was unexpected but welcome. He deserved it. Worse, maybe, but Carl wouldn’t be the one to deliver. This was enough.
Harangue propped himself up on his hands, fumbling with his glasses as he spluttered. “I- You p- Who are you?”
Carl stood over him, face hard. "Don't talk about my son like that ever again."
Harangue kept yelling but Carl was turning away. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and he suddenly felt better than he had in years. He was sure he’d regret this later but right now, in this moment, everything felt right. He’d stood up for his boy. That was all he ever wanted.