Left Handed

10

Hey.

Are you ready to hear the true story of my father?

First of all, I don't lie. Never. I didn't want to tell you the full truth because I didn't want you to think I'm weird. But I am and I think you know that by now.

So. My father. He was a soldier in the US Army. He fought in the war in the Middle East, in Syria. He told us stories of corruption and drug trafficking.

"My unit was like an island in a sea of sin," he told us one evening at dinner. He was pretty religious, my dad was.

He couldn't sleep well at night. He often went out on long walks.

Then he heard a rumor of a sergeant flaunting his money in town that he had stolen from the army in the war. So my father went to rough him up.

His friend Joshua, who had been trying to stop him, told me the story later.

My dad found out where that guy, his name was Grinder, spent his evenings. It was in a club called Lights. My dad and his friend went into the club and found the guy. Dad is a very confrontational man. He walked up to him and swept his drink to the floor.

"Hey! What the fuck, guy!" Grinder shouted.

"This will be the last time you steal money from your country," dad said and grabbed him by the head and slammed it into the bar.

A fight broke out. Unfortunately Grinder had been buying drinks all evening for many people so dad and Joshua quickly got overwhelmed. Joshua told me dad fought like a hero, bashing five or six guys before stopping.

Grinder dragged them both out to the alley and punched them a couple of times in the face.

Then he said, "What are you, some kind of patriot? They take your life and you don't even want to take a little in return?"

"Of course I'm a patriot," dad said. "That's why I joined up in the first place."

He then spat at Grinder and got him right in the corner of his mouth.

Grinder snapped. He unsheathed a knife and stabbed dad twice in quick succession in the stomach. He looked at Joshua, pointed his knife at him threateningly, then turned and ran off with his friends.

Joshua called the ambulance  but it was too late.

And so he never came back. My mom panicked. She didn't know if they were going to come after us and decided it was a better idea to just leave. She told me it was because of the better healthcare and educational system in the EU but she was scared and I felt it.

Joshua asked my mother to stay. In hindsight I think he had a bit of a crush on mom. Which in double hindsight is kind of weird what with him being dad's friend.

But mom would have none of that. She packed our things and we left.

I do have an American passport. That story about getting deported was just clickbait. I could move back anytime. Well, perhaps not now that I'm wanted by the police. Probably I'd just end up in Guantanamo or Area 51.

I wanted to say goodbye to my friend, Lisa.

"I want to say goodbye to Lisa," I said to mom.

"Okay," she said. She was pretty shook up at this point. Also, she didn't find a plane until after the weekend. That energy that had seen her pack all our stuff and arrange the move was gone and it now seemed like she didn't know what to do with herself.

We lived in an apartment building next to a public park and Lisa lived at the opposite end. I texted her to meet me in the middle but she didn't answer, didn't even open the message.

I strolled across the park and took in the sights of the trees, the fountain, the worn out playground of my childhood. I took in the smell of fall, the decomposing leaves and the crispness of the air.

This place would always be my hometown. I wanted a last positive memory to become golden in my mind.

Across the park I rang Lisa's house bell. After a few minutes I rang it again. Nothing. Maybe she was somewhere with her parents. I hadn't told her yet that I was leaving.m so she probably wasn't upset with me.

I hoped.

I sat down on a bench and waited. Then I waited some more.

But Lisa never showed up. When we landed in Barcelona to catch the plane to Menorca the following Monday I got a message from her.

What's up, girl? Just got your last text, she wrote.

That's when it really hit me. I was so far away from my friends and everything that I knew. It was a very real possibility I would never ever see her again.

That was my first day in Spain. I cried my eyes out and refused to go on the next flight so mom had to drag me on board.

But it eventually all turned out great, didn't it?