So Long, and Goodnight

Epilogue

Epilogue
The Kids From Yesterday

POV - Jeff
Three Years Later

    If you'd have told me three years ago that I would have six kids living with me, I'd have said you were crazy, that you'd lost your marbles... But it was true. I now had six kids.

    And here I am chaperoning them.

    The end of year dance had me sitting on the bleachers, watching as all six of my charges were dancing and laughing with each other.

    Scott had finally finished his schooling, and he'd been accepted into the USAF as a pilot. He'd done it on the sly, and hadn't told me until I asked after seeing the letter of acceptance laying on the table.

    John had changed a lot. He was still bookish and preferred to be alone at times, but he'd finally started opening up about his feelings, talking more, and actually joking and being sarcastic.

    Virgil had started playing the piano again, composing music and doing more art. Even though most of his art was still colourful and full of life, some of his works were to do about mental illness and how easy it was to miss the signs.

    Gordon's only change was how protective he was of his brothers. He was still part fish, still the joker, and still wore those horrendous Hawaiian shirts.

    Alan was still the baby, but I don't think he minded that. And he was still one half of the Terrible Two, but we were thinking of changing it to the Terrifying Three.

    After John had been discharged from the hospital, we all made an effort to include him in everything we did, and take what he wanted into account; even if it was going out in the middle of the night to go stargazing, or just doing some quiet reading.

    They really kept me on my toes, even if they were starting to turn my hair prematurely grey. And I wouldn't change a thing.

    A couple of days after John had been release from the hospital, I'd tried to talk to him on his own - wanting to apologize for the way I'd acted and what I'd effectively forced him to do. He'd held up his hand, said "everything happens for a reason," and about how if it hadn't happened, he'd never have met Jodie, she'd still be in danger, and he probably wouldn't have changed for the better.

    I had to agree with him. He'd changed for the better, and so had the rest of his brothers. And so had I.

    In the six months that had followed my wife's death, I hadn't taken anything but my own grief into account. Distancing myself from the people I loved until it nearly destroyed them.

    Three years later, and I was glad I had realized my mistake in time. That I still had my family, alive and well.

    And as if that thought had triggered some sort of homing devise, one of my charges started making their way towards me; carefully maneuvering through the sea of bodies that graced the dance floor.

    "Hey, Mr. Tracy." She waved, the scars on her wrists nothing more than faded purplish white lines, some raised and some not, "You enjoying yourself over here?"

    "How many times have I told you to call me Jeff?" I'd tried to get her to call me dad one time, but she'd said that the last people she called that had died, and she didn't want that to happen to me.

    "I don't know, as many times as it takes me to listen?" She responded, sitting down next to me.

    She never failed to make me smile. And when paired with Gordon and Alan, she was a formidable opponent. Jodie was the honorary member of the Terrible Two; or the soon to be named Terrifying Three.