Home is where the Heart is

Uncle Jack

"What are you doing here in town?" Sam asked. His uncle looked the same as he remembered and probably acted the same too.

"Actually, I came to see you." He replied with a stench of alcohol that lingered every time he opened his mouth. "Can we talk?" Sam didn't want to go anywhere near that man but agreed because maybe he would go away for good. Mercedes looked nervous as there was large tension between them, their past, but she trusted Sam.

"Take a seat," Sam said. He pointed towards a  table seated with three chairs. Sam nodded at Mercedes to reassure her everything was ok because he could tell she was hesitant to sit. Probably due to the awful stories Sam told her about him.

Once they were settled at the table, Uncle Jack looked to Mercedes. "Is this your girlfriend?" He asked. They never discussed it, but it felt nice to call her his girlfriend, and so he did.

"..Yeah, this is Mercedes," Sam said. Mercedes smiled, girlfriend did feel nice.

"Nice to see you have a girlfriend, pretty one too. I'm proud of you Sam." Sam raised his eyebrows and took everything he said with a grain of salt. Proud? What a lie, he could care less about him.

"Why are you here in town?" He asked again, jumping to the question so he could leave.

He laughed. "Well, I'm here to wish you a happy birthday, early that is. I know it's tomorrow."

"Hold on its your birthday tomorrow?" Mercedes asked in bewilderment. Sam shrugged as if it wasn't important. He never wanted to tell her it's his birthday for a few reasons. One, being a gift, and he felt he didn't deserve more gifts than the one Mercedes granted him with.

"That's it?" Sam asked, knowing their was more. This was his uncle he was talking about.

"Well, I-I was kinda hoping for something now that you ask." He paused for a moment, and then continued talking in between slight slurs. "I need a few...a few dollars. Is their any you can spare for your ol'uncle Jack?"

"Your-your asking me for money?" Sam said, now growing anger in his voice. His uncle leaned in closer.

"I was thinking a couple hundred if that's alright." Mercedes could see Sam's anger by the fist he made, and so rested a hand on his. Sam felt her touch and saw it as a reminder to calm down.

"How can you think like that? I'm embarrassed to call you my uncle! You know what happened with my mom, but you didn't care. You left me, and you couldn't give a crap about me!"

"Don't you say that to me." He said and got up from his chair.

"And the one time you need me, your asking for money." Sam continued.

"I can't believe your talking like this, do you have any idea what I've been through!" He replied. Mercedes squeezed Sams hand as he was about to do something that involved his fist.

"Sam, we should go." She said.

Sam snapped out of his anger. She brought him back to peace. "Yeah, ok."

He looked to his uncle. "Stay away from me."

They finally got away from that situation without any harm, but Mercedes could see the harm done on Sams's emotions.

"I see now, why you don't want to live with him." She said. Sam nodded with a frown, he didn't say much. After a little bit of walking in silence, he spoke.

"I heard my father was a good man. That makes me feel a little better."

"That would make sense. You probably take after him." She said, and then she remembered a thought. "Why didn't you tell me your birthdays tomorrow?"