The Andre Miller Saga

Andre Miller 50 The Case

5 days after talking to Frankie via sat phone he and Conroy arrived back in Birmingham from Peru. Andre, Caleb, Tilly, Kyle, Janice, Kris, and Celeste were waiting for them when they got back. Frankie looked like he had been in a tanning booth for several days. Conroy was a deep tan that accented his wrinkles, but it was obvious he was hurting from the trip. He was walking with a heavy limp and the aid of a cane.

"It's to have you home Dad, you to Frankie. It hasn't been the same without you here." Said Andre.

"Yeah, yeah, save the weeping for when we get home. I need my chair and a hand full of painkillers." Said Conroy, "The damn flight attendant hit my bad foot with the drink cart twice on the flight from Atlanta to Birmingham. It's like I had a damn sign saying torment me or something."

"Well good to see your mood has improved." Said Caleb with a laugh, "In all seriousness though, do you want me to grab you a wheelchair while we wait for your luggage?"

Conroy grumbled but eventually said, "Yes, please."

Caleb grabbed a chair from guest services and let Conroy settle himself into it and then they made their way to the luggage check. They had a good amount of luggage as they had been gone for just shy of two months. Celeste walked beside Conroy and held his hand while they were getting the luggage, which caused him to smile and pat the girl lovingly on the hand.

Once they had the luggage they made their way out to the parking lot, where they found a flyer for the Retaletan Group under their windshield wiper. "There's no escaping the bastards." Said Conroy as he crumpled up the flyer and tossed it into a nearby trash basket. They loaded into the vehicles and Caleb returned the chair to guest services.

Once they were away from the airport Celeste wanted to know everything about pop pop and Daddy's adventure in Peru. Franky made a very mild and watered-down reply to her leaving out the hard parts and the point where Conroy had lost a toe to frostbite. For Celeste's consumption, it was a wonderful adventure filled with beautiful landscapes and awesome people, and they got a special plant that will help pop pop feel better.

"Well, that's good, pop pop is important. He should always feel better." She declared as they pulled into the house. Andre helped Conroy into the house while the others unloaded the luggage and got it all moved into the house.

Once Conroy was comfortably ensconced in his chair in the living room, he raised his legs and let out a deep and pained breath.

Andre brought him some painkillers and one of his sodas. "Here you go Dad, you rest, you've had a rough trip."

"Damn right it was rough, I remember when walking ten miles took 3 hours, not 3 damn days. Uphill, and then we got stuck by a storm for 3 days. At least there was a small cave up there where we could shelter. Needing oxygen the whole way because of the altitude, I felt like a damned invalid!"

"But your trip was a success," said Kris, "I'll get that formula working tonight and analyze one of the seeds to see if I can synthesize the agents in it in case we run out during your treatment."

"Treatment, you mean me cheating hell is what you mean." He said grouchily.

"What's going on Dad? I know you're hurting but even when you're hurting, you're not this surley." Asked Andre.

"The trip was hard, yeah, but the trance part of it, that was the hardest part. I had to confront all the bad stuff I had done over my life one thing at a time. It only lasted 3 hours but it might as well have been 3 years. 95 years of bad karma is a lot to take in all at once. I didn't remember a lot of what I saw, but now it's all fresh in my mind. I was a horrible father and husband and friend. I was a drunken idiot who wouldn't have known a good thing if it bit me with fangs. I spent the last 3 years trying to make up for the previous 92, and the scales just don't balance." He said with a deep frown.