The Soldier's Son

Alexander sat high in the pear tree. Juices from the fruit dripped down his hands, leaving a sticky line. He sat in the tree and licked his hands clean. He was seven and a half years old and in exactly one week he would enter the second grade. But for now, he was content to sit in the tree and eat all the pears his stomach could handle.

His older brother, Jeff, was sixteen and worked at the Quik Mart down the street during the summer days. Mama worked there, too, only she kept working there when school started again. Daddy was in another country, fighting for the army. They used to get an e-mail from him every single Sunday, but they hadn’t gotten one in a few weeks now. Mama said it was because the army was keeping him so busy he could barely get any sleep, let alone steal a few seconds to type out an e-mail. Alexander, though, knew different. One night he had heard Mama talking on the phone to Grandma (he knew it was Grandma because he’d heard Mama call her “Mom”) when he was supposed to be sleeping. It wasn’t his fault, though. He’d woken up thirsty and the glass of water that was always on his nightstand was empty. Mama had forgotten to refill it. So he plodded his way down the hallway and almost walked into he kitchen when he heard Mama close a cupboard in the kitchen. He didn’t want to get in trouble so he turned to go back to bed when he heard Mama talk. Her voice was sad.

“Kevin hasn’t sent any e-mails in a few weeks, Mom. I’m worried. What would keep him from letting us know he’s okay?” She paused, assumedly while Grandma spoke on the other end. Then she said, “I know, but what if something happened to him?”

Alexander’s eyes widened. He had believed his Mama when she told him Daddy had been busy, but he guessed she’d been fibbing to keep him from getting scared. He wished he could hear what Grandma was saying. But maybe Jeff would know more of what was going on, he realized. Mama always told Jeff more than he told Alexander.

Quietly he crept down the hallway to Jeff’s room so Mama wouldn’t hear him. He opened the door and poked his head through the opening. Jeff was in bed, watching something on the television that hung on his wall. “Hey, buddy, what are you doing awake?” Jeff asked after he paused the TV.

“I was thirsty, so I went to get a drink, but Mama’s in the kitchen talking to Grandma,” Alexander told him. “She says something happened to Daddy.” His lower lip trembled, and he bit it, as much to keep himself from crying as to keep Jeff from seeing it.

“Ah, kiddo, come here,” Jeff said, lifting up his blanket and patting the bed next to him. Alexander quickly ran into the room and hopped into the bed next to his brother.

“What happened?” Alexander asked, trying to stop himself from sniffling.

“Well, as far as we know, nothing has happened,” Jeff told him. He wrapped his arm around Alexander’s shoulders and tucked the blanket around them both. “The last Mama heard, Dad was going on a supply run because there’s a lot of soldiers over there.”

“But then why hasn’t he sent another e-mail?” His voice quivered and he tucked his head into his brother’s arm.

“It could be something as simple as their internet is out,” Jeff told him. His voice was calm and he pet Alexander’s head.

“What if it’s not? What if something bad happened?”

“Hey, look at me,” Jeff said. Alexander tipped his head up and looked into his brother’s eyes. “No matter what happens, Dad loves you, Mom loves you, and I love you. No matter what happens, we’ll get through it together. No matter what happens, we’ll be there for Mama, and Mama and I will be there for you. Okay?”

Alexander nodded his head. “Okay. Thank you, Jeff. I love you too.”

“You wanna sleep in here tonight?” Jeff asked. Alexander nodded again and quickly closed his eyes, snuggling further into the blankets. Jeff pressed play on the remote and before he knew it, Alexander fell asleep to the sounds of Spongebob repeatedly ripping his pants.

* * *

Exactly one week after Alexander ate pears in the tree, he was sitting in his new classroom. School would be out in just a few minutes. His teacher, Mrs. Hartley, was nice enough so far. She had asked each of the students to fill out a paper with some of their favorite things like colors, food to eat, season, holiday, and summertime activity. It was while Alexander filled this paper out, focusing on coloring the edging (he was a good student and had already filled out all of the answers), tip of his tongue stuck between his lips, when the classroom grew quiet. Slowly Alexander raised his head, wondering why. Maybe Mrs. Hartley was mad about something and he hadn’t realized? He looked at her, but she was smiling, even though tears filled her eyes, so he let his eyes roam over the classroom to figure out what was going on.

That was when his eyes fell on a man standing in the doorway. The first thing Alexander noticed was that he stood on one leg. He had a crutch under one arm and the other arm leaned against the doorframe for support. The next thing that Alex noticed was that the man wore camouflage from head to toe, including the hat. The hat that hung over the face of a man he recognized. It was his daddy! But how was he here? Alexander didn’t care. He threw down the orange crayon he’d been holding and ran to him. Before he knew it, Alexander was wrapped in the embrace of his father. He could smell the cologne his daddy always wore and underneath that the faint smell of his shampoo.

His daddy pulled away, placing his hands on Alexander’s shoulders and Alexander realized he was crying. “You’ve grown into quite the young man,” Daddy said.

Alexander puffed out his chest and smiled. Then he realized Mama and Jeff were standing in the hallway outside the classroom. Mama had tears streaming down her cheeks and her smile reached from ear to ear. Jeff had tears in his eyes, but he stayed strong. “Daddy, what happened to your leg?” Alexander asked.

He smiled, but his eyes looked sad. “Well, I had a bit of an accident, so they had to cut it off,” he told him. “But the good news is, I get to be home now.”

“Forever?” His daddy nodded and grabbed Alexander in for another hug.

“What do you say we go on home and celebrate?” Daddy asked.

Alexander smiled. “That would be great!” He turned back to his teacher. “Can we go?”

Mrs. Hartley smiled. “Of course you can. The bell should be ringing any time now. Congratulations, Alexander. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

After turning in his assignment, Alexander grabbed his backpack and ran back to daddy, grabbing his hand. They walked that way down the hallway. They were almost to the front doors when the school bell rang. Daddy flinched—hard and almost dropped his crutch. “Daddy, are you scared of the school bell?” Alexander questioned.

Shaking his head his daddy replied, “I just don’t like loud noises, sport.”

Mama and Daddy shared a look that Alexander knew meant something else was going on, but he was just so glad to have Daddy home. Instead of asking anything else, Alexander said, “Let’s go home.”