Larry too heard the car coming in and said,” Comet, it is better that you get dressed. We are going to have serious conversation with your daddy.”
“But it is daddy only Uncle Larry! What is the point of getting dressed up? He is only going to get me rid of it as soon as possible,’ said Comet with a smile which would brighten anyone’s day but Larry’s sombre expression did not change even for a second and he said,” You know, baby girl, sometimes we do some things for the better of our own people, the ones whom we love more than anything. Those things might really hurt. But still we do them. Do you know why?”
Comet did not say anything but shook her head saying no.
“Because that is the only way to make things better for them. And right now the same goes for your daddy.”
Comet did not understand everything that Uncle Larry was trying to tell her but she knew that things were going to get ugly very soon. It did not take a lot for her to understand that the phrase ‘we need to talk’ meant something really serious. They heard the door open and Lester walked inside the house. Larry was already dressed up and Comet was still staring at him when he said,” get dressed and come down, Comet.”
Comet nodded mutely and pulled on back her clothes which had been hastily discarded an hour before.
“Where have you been?” asked Larry as he walked in the room and found that Lester was lounging on the couch with a can of beer this early in the morning.
“Good morning to you too, bro. So who spit in your coffee today morning that you have been behaving in this shitty way since this early? Didn’t get laid or what?” asked Lester as he snorted at his younger brother and Larry simply looked at him and said,” Since you are my brother I am going to let that pass, Lester. What is wrong with you?”
“So when you said that we were going to need to talk you meant that there was nothing serious that you had to say and all this bullshit about what I have been doing and all that?”
“Don’t you think that you are doing something wrong? At all?”
“What do you want me to say? That I am enjoying my life for the past few weeks and that is something wrong? What is wrong in that?”
“Lester, you did not return home last night. You have been spending weeks with another man with whom you shared a professional relationship until now and now you both are f*****g each other. Never before you have been gay, what is going on?” Larry burst out and Comet came down and softly said,” Hi Daddy. How was your night with Aaron?”
But before Lester could respond at all Larry burst out again.
“And what about Comet? Have you forgotten about her completely? I mean, you come in and you f**k her and you forget about her existence completely like she does not exist at all. Do you have any thought about the fact that she is undergoing therapy for what happened to her? Or have you forgotten that as well in this strange business of enjoying yourself?”
“DON’T YOU DARE TAKE THAT TONE WITH ME!!” Lester screamed as he threw the half empty beer can at Larry which he deftly caught without any mistake.
“Or what? What are you going to do? Walk out on us? Try and fight with me? You know that of the two of us I am the one who always wins our fights, big Bro,” said Larry with a smirk on his lips.
“Why are you both fighting?” asked Comet as she looked at both of them and then threw her hands up in the air in frustration. Then she looked at Larry and said,” Uncle Larry, you have been asking daddy that why has been like this and why is not at home with us or trying and spending more time with us like a few weeks earlier, isn’t it? You want to know that answer?”
Larry looked at her and said,” Why are you trying to defend him, Comet? You are also the victim of his behaviour.”
“I am not defending him, Uncle Larry. You just wanted to know why he was doing this and he is too proud a man to say anything which might show that he is weak but I can tell you. I am not bound by all this male ego and stuff that you guys have to keep on strutting off in order to prove that you are a man. That is why I am telling you. Daddy is scared. That is why he is running away.”
“WHAT?” this time it was Lester who reacted at what his step-daughter said.
Comet just said,” That is what it is Daddy. I am not trying to defend you or am trying to cause a rift between the both of you. But Uncle Larry needs to understand that not everything works in the human mind as black and white. Like Judith told me, people do a lot of things when they are scared.”
“You think that he is scared?” asked Larry in obvious surprise. He had not expected the conversation to take such a turn at all.
“Yes. He is. Not because he is a coward or anything of the sort but only because he cannot understand what is going to happen if I go away from the both of you. He is scared because I told him that I want to find my own place and my own identity. He thinks that I don’t need him any longer. He isn’t scared because he thinks he cannot protect, he is scared because he knows that if there is any chance that I move away from both of you then he has nothing to live with. He has no life apart from me, so he is trying to create a world where I might not have a place,” Comet finished and then sighed loudly and said,” I know that it is a difficult thing to adjust for the both of you. This has been a change. Me being kidnapped, tortured, losing my memories and then getting them back….it is bound to create a ruckus sometime earlier or later. I was thinking that this was going to come.”
Both the men in the room were absolutely silent at her analysis and Lester knew that she had hit the nail at the right spot and he said,” I am sorry, baby girl. I really did not know what to do. I mean, I have been so worried that I was scared to even be close to you.”
“Why Daddy? It is me, Comet. We have gone through hell together and after that what is there to be scared?”
“This is the time to be really scared, Comet,” said Larry in a grave tone as he looked at his brother and said,” The times of war are difficult true, but the times of peace are even more difficult for the soldiers like us because we are so habituated with violence and mission and purpose that when it is gone, it feels like there is nothing left for us. That vaccum is really tough to deal with. But brother, if you could not talk to Comet, tell her what was really happening in your mind then at the least you could come and talk to me?”
“And what purpose would have that served?” asked Lester in a crestfallen manner.
“It does not need to serve any purpose Daddy. We are a family. We should deal with everything together and that is it,” said Comet.