FCKMA

31 - I Take a Few Steps Forward

Autumn had been my favorite season since I was a little kid. I used to run amok in my front yard with my older brother, Conrad, as we would find every possible way to avoid the task of raking up the leaves. I used to collect the red leaves until Conrad and my little brother, Henry, got hold of my collection and smashed the dry leaves to pieces. For me, autumn always represented the calm before the storm, and growing up in Wisconsin, there was definitely going to be a snowstorm. My mother never let me out to shovel the driveway until I was thirteen and lost interest in accompanying my older brother with his chores, so autumn was the time when I could go out and do whatever I wanted.

            Now, two decades later and several states over, I was facing the end of summer. August was coming to a close and I was elated. It was almost fall, and I had escaped work early so that I could spend time with Connor. The official date for his trial with Richard -which was the only trial I could keep track of amidst his busy schedule- was set for Friday, September 12. I was technically a third party to the case, considering that I was best friends with the defendant and dating the defense attorney, but my life was affected by this case as well. I spent a lot of time waiting for Connor to come home, and was usually disappointed when he called to tell me he'd be out late, again; and I spent even more time with Becky, Luke, and Ruby when Richard had meetings, business trips, or just needed a second to himself. The people closest to me were extremely stressed out, but I was the happiest I had been in years because I was surrounded with people that I loved.

            In the past week, I had been spending a lot of time with Julien. He was enjoying himself way too much in his current state of joblessness, and found any excuse to do things just for the hell of doing it. Today, he was joining me in my daily walk around the local businesses.

            "I can't believe you do this every day," he said, feigning exhaustion, as we had only been walking for five minutes. "Don't you find it limits you? It's so routine."

            "Julien, it's called having a schedule," I pointed out, as I directed him towards the next stoplight. "I realize that's a foreign concept to you now, but-"

            "Speaking of foreign, I was thinking about going on an overseas trip," he said spontaneously.

            "Where did you have in mind?" I asked, ignoring the fact that I was interrupted. I was happy that he had done so, because I was in far too good a mood to criticize him.

            "I don't know. A cruise, probably," he said.

            "Yes, but a cruise to where?" I asked. "Usually there's a destination in mind when people plan cruises. The boat doesn't just go in a circle for an hour."

            He laughed. "Yes, I realize that," he said. "I was just proud that I actually thought of something to do."

            "Well, I'm actually watching Richard's kids on the twelfth, and I was thinking of planning some sort of surprise for them," I ventured, "if you'd care to assist me with that. Just so you'd have something to do."

            Julien recoiled in mock-horror. "Are you trying to one-up me as the cool relative?" he said in an accusatory tone.

            "We aren't their real relatives," I started. "I just thought it would take their minds off of the whole custody battle."

            "And it will," he agreed. "Except I'm going to do it better than you."

            "Oh my god," I said. "We can go in half and half, so we're both the cool relative." I waited for the muscles in his face to relax. "And then I'm going to bombard them with piles of awesome presents and then they'll never talk to you again. Fun Uncle Julien? More like, who's Uncle Julien, am I right?" I cracked myself up.