Got Your Six

Chapter 40

Cameron

"We meet here today to celebrate the life of Calvin B. Jenkins," the celebrant announces as soon as everyone has quieted down in their seats.
I'm right in the front row, sitting next to Brooke who's got Richie on her lap. She was all too happy to see me come home that night, up until I told her what had happened anyway. That really put a damper on the mood.
Mom and Dad were clearly shocked to see me as well. It was quite the train wreck telling them that one of their son's was actually still alive but that the other one was now dead. That took awhile for them to comprehend. Although, Captain Bennett accompanied me when I told them so he could help explain everything.
He gave me the job. I'll be a full time police officer, just as soon as I finish the academy, which I'm supposed to start next week. Captain Bennett wasn't sure if I was still going to want the position after all that's happened, but I told him I'd still take it. It's a better job for me to support my family. Besides, it's a way to honor the loss of Calvin in my own way.
"Every one of us here has had our life touched, maybe in the tiniest way or perhaps totally transformed, by Calvin's existence. You would not be here today if that were not the case. His life mattered, to all of us," the celebrant continues.
I look around the room at everyone who's shown up today. Mom and Dad are sitting right across the aisle from me, unable to hold in their tears. On the other side of them is Kayla who looks just as rough. Behind them are close family relatives. The rest of the room is filled with various friends and family. Basically, everyone who knew Calvin is more than likely in this room today.
What I'm glad I don't have to worry about is there being someone here working for Gavin. That problem has been dealt with. After Calvin got rid of Gavin the way he did, the rest of the people working for him were rounded up throughout the week. Captain Bennett claimed it wasn't too hard to track them all down. They were basically wandering around town like lost puppies without the guidance of their fearless leader. That is, if lost puppies sold drugs.
"Life will not be the same without him," the celebrant is saying as I tune back in. "A few members of Calvin's family will soon come up to tell us more about his life and the moments they cherished with him, but first let us listen to this song that he loved."
The speakers fill with the sounds of a sad slow song that brings tears to everyone's eyes, including my own. Brooke places her arm around me and sways with me in our seats while the music plays on around us. After a couple minutes, the room goes silent again and the celebrant gives everyone a moment to collect themselves before getting back on the microphone.
"First, we're going to hear from Calvin's younger brother, Cameron," the celebrant announces and then steps away from the podium.
I take a deep breath and then get up from my seat. Brooke lightly rubs my back before I walk up in front of the room and take my place behind the podium. Public speaking is something I despise but I felt it was something I had to do, for Calvin. I pull the several pieces of notebook paper from my back pocket and unfold it on the space in front of me. My eyes skim over the words, refreshing myself on what I had wrote over the past week. It took me that long because I couldn't stop crying while I was writing it. Turns out it was a complete waste of time anyway. I don't need some script to tell me what to say. Every word comes straight from the heart anyway. I fold the papers back up and place them back in my pocket and look out into the crowd. Everyone's eyes are on me, waiting for me to say something, say anything for that matter. I look to Brooke who gives me a reassuring smile and then to my mother who has tears in her eyes that have been there all day, possibly all week. Then the words start to leave my mouth.
"Calvin was my older brother," I begin, saying what the celebrant has already told everybody before I got up here. "And I couldn't have asked for someone better to grow up with. We fought a lot as kids, but who has a brother that they didn't fight with growing up? What mattered the most is that he was always there for me when I needed him."
I can hear my mom's crying start up again which just gets me going too. My hand comes up to wipe the tears away and I force myself to continue talking.
"He might've picked on me sometimes... okay, a lot of times," I say, getting a small chuckle from the crowd. "But he would never let anyone else pick on me. He was protective of me and I was grateful of that." I pause, if only to hold back the tears again. "He was a big inspiration to me. I always looked up to him when I was younger because I just thought he was the coolest guy ever. In a lot of ways, that led to me following in his footsteps."
I take a moment to reflect on our childhood together as the memories begin flooding in. Me and him sledding down the snow hill in our backyard. Watching wrestling together and then practicing those wrestling moves on our stuffed animals. Him, taking me to school in his old car, but me still thinking it was the coolest thing just because he had a car. I feel a small smile appear on my face and decide to share a few of these stories with the people in attendance.
"I remember when he would take me to school when I was in maybe sixth grade. He had this old tan Buick with subwoofers in the trunk. We always pulled up the the school just blasting the music. He made me feel like the coolest kid in the sixth grade just because of that. Then, when I got older and got my own car, I got my own subwoofers so I could be like him," a tear rolls down my cheek even though there's a smile on my face.
The memories we shared might've seemed so small and insignificant back then, but those are the ones that stuck with me the most. We could be doing the most boring things, maybe just playing a board game, but it was those times that I cherished the most. My smile continues as I search my brain for another happy memory to share with everyone.
"People always told us that we looked so much alike, but I think it went deeper than that. We didn't only look so much alike, we were so much alike. He's the reason I started listening to electronic music, that music that you all think of as just loud noises," I say, generating another small laugh from the crowd. "When I was just starting out in high school, Calvin enlisted in the Army. I always told myself that I would never go into the Army, it seemed so scary. Go off to war and get shot at, why would I want to do that? But you know what, when I was old enough, I enlisted too, because I wanted to follow in his footsteps. There was just this little part of me that wanted to be like him. I even enlisted with the same MOS as him."
My mind flashes back to the day when he graduated basic training. The whole family made a trip to Saint Louis, Missouri and went up in the big arch. Then my mind jumps forward to the day I graduated basic training. Calvin and I posed for so many pictures together in our uniforms because mom just couldn't get enough photos of us. We made funny faces and did silly poses. We were just having a good time after not seeing each other for five months, but it felt like we hadn't missed a day.
"Nothing else in the world can replicate the relationship I had with my brother. We were so close that he was the best man in my wedding, and then just a few years later our roles flipped and I was honored with being his best man as well. He was my best friend for so many years growing up and I know I'm going to miss him every single day," I say, pausing to collect myself again. "We got matching tattoos a few years ago," I say holding up my left arm for everyone to see. "It's a saying that'll make me think of him every time I look at it and it still holds true, even now that he's gone."
The tears begin rolling down my cheeks even before I'm able to say the words. I look over to Brooke, who I can see has been crying this whole time as well and then I look over to mom and dad again. Mom is trying to smile but I know she's filled with so much sadness right now that it's nearly impossible for her. I take a deep breath and let the words finally flow out of my mouth one last time.
"When everything else is gone, we'll always have each other."