Girls Dont Play Football

Chapter Seven: Mom, Dad, and Luke

I rushed down the steps then just stood there. How dare he bring that up?! That was so uncalled for! Let me just calm down before he catch these hands. I took a couple of deep breaths then went to the kitchen to grab the keys. On the way to the front door someone knocked on it. I stared at it in shock. Come on. You know how a door works, open it!

Slowly I opened the door. "Calm down girl. I ain't no stranger." The man laughed. Normally I would have had an attitude with him but he looked very familiar. He stopped laughing when he noticed me staring at him. "Wow, you don't remember me? Well it has been a long time I guess." He said mostly to himself.

I was starting to get annoyed but I held it in. "Sir, it's clear I don't know you and right now is really not a good time for me. I am not in the mood for games. If you're here for Glenn then I'll call him down but if you're here for me then who are you?" This man had the audacity to laugh at me! I'm about to kick your-.

The man grabbed my chin and pulled me close to look me in my eyes. Those eyes. Who in the hell are you? "You always had a temper. The one thing you got from Mom but your eyes. Hazel like Dad's. Lucky little dyke."

Happily I threw my arms around his neck, jumped, and wrapped my legs around him. "Luke!" I yelled then yelped in pain. Luke stared at me in shock. "I'm fine. Just got out of surgery." The expression on his face didn't change. "Come in, I'm fine." Suddenly I remembered him calling me a dyke. I punched him as hard as I could before letting him in the house.

Luke laughed at me. "I promise my little sister is the only person that can punch me this hard right after having surgery. Wanna tell me what happened?" I showed him into the living room and sat down on the couch with him.

Luke is my older brother. Before you say anything I didn't recognize him because I haven't seen him in two years and he grew facial hair and cut off his dreads. Luke is 26 now, 6'5", and the perfect example of a big brother. He's always been protective and supportive when Mom and Dad weren't there. He was half brother and half parent.

Luke sighed then smiled at me. "Haven't seen you in two years! Do you know how hard it was to find you?! I didn't know you moved!" He looked around the living room. "Living big in Cali. Left everyone back in Ohio. I had to find God Mom Mary to tell me where you were!"

I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio and everyone that lives there can't wait to leave! I moved right after Luke went back into the Army. "Have you went back to visit at all? God mom Mary would love to see you. Cameron is pregnant again, did you know that? Have you visited Mom?" He asked.

I looked away from him. Our mother had been dead for four years and I never visit her without Luke so it's been a while. "No, you know I get too emotional about that stuff. What about Dad? Have you seen him?"

Luke massaged his neck and sighed. "Nope, you talked to him more than me and you lost contact with him when you were 18. We never thought to ask his full name and I can't just walk up to every police officer in Ohio asking 'are you my Dad?'." I lightly laughed. "There it is. That smile I missed so much. Just like Mom's." He grinned.

I shook my head. "Can we not go down memory lane? I can bring up a lot of the bad things and you don't want me to do that." Luke slowly nodded. "Here. Let me show you the house." We got up and walked to the kitchen. "This is the hallway and this is the kitchen, of course. We had to do it all over ourselves and the bedrooms. Took a while but I'm absolutely in love with it."

I stopped talking when I noticed him staring at the tiles."Unity, you made these?" I nodded. "You did learn something from Mom!" I lightly pushed his head. "Mom really took her job seriously. Always going back and forth to Africa. Helping all of those kids, sometimes taking us with her, and bringing home knowledge and souvenirs. What was the longest she's been gone?"

I closed my eyes to help me think. When I opened them Luke was kneeling and tracing the symbol. "Two months. I remember because Kelly stayed with us. Longest two months of my life." Luke's finger stopped moving and we just stayed there. Mom didn't have the best choice in boyfriends. None of them ever like Luke and me.

Luke stood up then sat at the table. "Wow, you really do know how to bring up the bad things. Mom didn't know about it and you had me so it wasn't that bad was it?" I sat down across the table from him but didn't make eye contact. "After we told Mom she would call the cops and he would be taken away. You know she felt terrible afterwards. She had to leave us. The kids in Africa needed her more than us." He reached for my hand but I pulled away.

"I know that already! Everyone keeps telling me that! I know I sound selfish but they were not her children! We are and she left us here to defend ourselves!" I yelled. Luke just stared at me and I banged my head on the table then laid there.

"I'm sorry. I know those kids needed that medicine and the surgeries but I can't help how I feel. I don't blame Mom for what Kelly did to me. I blame her for all of the others. She would keep apologizing but apologies start to become only words after a while." I laid my head in my hands.

Luke was quiet for a while then I heard him move. His arm slowly pulled my up and then he hugged me. I didn't hug him back but I didn't try to escape. "I understand. You're not selfish, you're human. Is that why you can't go to Mom's.... Resting place by yourself? Not sure how you would feel?" I wrapped my arms around him and held in tight. "I understand." He whispered and kissed my forehead.