I'm Scott Malkinson

31- Just A Fluke

    Clyde leans his head against the window as the handicar takes him home, mindlessly watching the blurred lights outside it as they drive past the shops and restaurants of downtown South Park. His head hurts, and he's unsure at this point if it's a result of the drinking or the obnoxious hyperpop blasting through the car's speakers.

    His eyes flick to the clock on the dash, it's not too late yet, a few minutes past nine-thirty. Fletcher should be in bed by now, but if Clyde knew his youngest he'd be curled up in bed with a flashlight, reading well past his bedtime. He'd probably still get the chance to give him a goodnight kiss before turning in himself.

    Clyde takes a moment to wonder where Fletcher gets it from. Griffin is more or less just like he was when he was that age, but Fletcher is nothing like him or Jade in behavior. If anything, Clyde thinks he's a bit like Scott.

    The thought is fleeting as Clyde realizes that Fletcher's book collection had mostly come from Tolkien. His daughter, Mia, was just as voracious of a reader as Fletcher, and the two of them often traded books between them. He decided then that both Fletcher and Mia had gotten it from Tolkien, who's prized possession all throughout middle school had been his large collection of Percy Jackson books.

    The handicar takes a turn and the lights of downtown South Park fade away behind them. They're now heading deeper into the neighborhoods towards the house he and Jade had bought when they'd moved back to South Park after his eight years of service.

    Jade had been pissed at the time that he didn't stay in longer. If he'd done a full twenty, he could've retained certain benefits after getting out, but all he'd gotten from the eight years he had served was a pair of bad knees and a drinking problem.

    Sometimes he feels like a failure for not being able to push through longer. His decision not to stay after his second enlistment had ended wasn't a decision he'd made impulsively. He'd thought about it long and hard, eventually deciding that the benefits weren't worth the borderline eating disorder he'd developed every time they got close to weigh ins as he struggled to maintain an acceptable bmi.

    Clyde had always been a bit chubby, and as he got older that weight was harder to keep off. He'd already been twenty-five at the start of his first enlistment, and by the time he got out he was thirty-three. His body wasn't built for that kind of abuse anymore. He'd put his own health first, but to Jade that had been the wrong answer.

    She hadn't stayed mad for long though, at least not about that. She'd reconnected with Henrietta upon moving back to South Park, and together they'd started their own business, a metaphysical shop in town. Clyde briefly wonders which of her crystals was making her behave like such a bitch lately.

    The handicar pulls in front of his house, and Clyde pushes the door open, stepping outside. It's still August, but after dark the temperature had dropped significantly. Clyde's Hawaiian shirt and shorts are hardly as weather appropriate as they'd been this afternoon.

    The porch lights are motion activated and they flick on as he less than gracefully approaches the door.

    Before he can even get his key in the lock, the door opens and Jade steps outside with her arms crossed.

    "Where the hell have you been?" She asked, her mouth turned down into a disapproving frown. The look reminds him of the one his mother used to give him when he'd forget to clean up his toys as a kid. Her voice is hushed, that sort of harsh whisper yell that expresses displeasure without carrying through walls.

    "At Zest," he answers honestly.

    "Seriously, you've been out drinking again?" Her frown intensifies and her brows furrow together. It's a face Jade makes so often that she now has permanent wrinkles on her forehead as a result of her constant displeasure. There's something satisfying to Clyde about knowing he's giving her wrinkles, it seems quite fair after all the gray hair she's definitely caused over the years. "Do you ever do anything else?"