Dad

I was on my way home when my cell phone rang.  It was dad.

“Son, I want you to meet me at the luxury lodge over in the mountains.”

The lodge?  Why would he want me to meet him there?

Thing is, though, if Dad wants you to meet him somewhere… you have to do it.  He doesn’t scream or yell at you, but if he wants to see you, you have to go.

So there I was, driving to the lodge to meet my father. 

I had been to the lodge before, but not inside of it.   This is where Dad asked me to meet him, at this secluded little lodge.  Apparently he is a patron here.  I can’t say I’m surprised. 

Sure enough, when I walked in, my father was listening to the pianist play a rousing jazz song. 

Dad shot a look that could melt steel.  I knew he had to be angry with me.  First my sister chews me out, and now my dad tears into me with only his eyes.  Damn.

I took a deep breath.  “Dad, look, I can explain everything.”

“I already know everything, son,” he said in his customary low whispery baritone.  “I already know everything in here.”  He pointed to his heart.  

When dad speaks in those cryptic tones I have to wonder sometimes. 

“I don’t have to say anything to you, Sebastian, because you are me, except bigger and taller and younger.”

“Because you were born to fame and wealth, Sebastian, that means that everyone wants a piece of you.  Everyone.  Your life is not yours anymore once you choose this.  I learned that the hard way.”

He started telling me about what he did when he was my age.  “There was a woman named Holly Alto.  Holly Alto’s parents were very rich, and when they died, they left her the mansion.  I met her before I met your mother, this was a long, long time ago.  I was dating someone else at the time that I met Holly.  She financed my first album.  Then she got pregnant.  And I got scared.  Noah suffered because I was scared.  I couldn’t deal with being a dad.  I was not ready.  Neil is paying for it now. 

“You are scared, Sebastian.  You are scared.  I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Neil when his girlfriend got pregnant.  You know in your gut what you did, and you are the one who has to make it right.  Miss Foster’s baby is yours, and you know it.  I’m going to be the last person to say I am perfect, because I’m not.  I did my best.  Sandy and I raised you and your sister.  I’m paying for my mistakes every single remaining day of my life. 

“I’m going to counseling here at the Rudolph Vanderburg Mental Wellness Center once a week with your mother, and I want you and your sister to come too one of these days, but I realize you are busy with your own lives.  Because I realize that my actions have affected all of you, and all of you have reacted in different ways.”

He pulled out a card with the name of his counselor. 

I decided after the confessional… I needed a drink.  My mind was a million miles away. 

On the computer

 

I sent this email to Kyra this morning.

Dear Kyra,

This letter might come as a surprise to you.  You probably think I don’t care, or that I have forgotten that you existed, but that is not the case.  Not a day goes by without thinking about you and what I did to you.  I know I hurt you badly and that I deserve not to be in your company ever again. 

I would like for you to meet me tomorrow afternoon at the Rudolph Vanderburg hospital here in Hidden Springs.  No agents, no family members, no hangers-on.  Just you and me, for a DNA test.  I’m not demanding or requiring that you come, but I would very much like you to.  It’s important for you, for me, and for the baby.  

Sincerely yours,

Sebastian

While I was checking my email, I got one from Neil back home in Sunset Valley. 

Hey bro,

Whuzzup?  Nothin’ much here.  My son Nolan is starting at CSG (Community School for the Gifted) and Noelle and I are still on track for a Christmas wedding.  Are you comin’?  It would mean a lot to me if you came. 

Hey, I heard Grandpa took Grandma to Hidden Springs to seek the fountain of youth.  Gramps was always a holy roller eh? 

Oh guess what?  Daisy’s engaged, to a police officer named Jeff Peters.  They started dating right after you left this last time.  Her parents pushed for a quick engagement and got it.  Truth be told, tho, I don’t think she loves him. 

Gotta go.  Nevaeh needs her bottle.  Did I tell you?  Right after Nolan was born, Noelle got pregnant again and we had Nevaeh. 

Neil

I could understand Daisy never speaking to me again after what I did, but a police officer??? Damn. 

Savannah part 3

“I cleared everyone out, Bassy… it’s just you and me.  Now fess up.  What the hell is going on?”

I took a deep breath.  “Ok, remember back home in Sunset Valley that I was kinda sorta dating Daisy Ramsey?”

“Yeah.”

“And remember I told you about this girl Kyra that I met in Bridgeport?”

“Yeah.  Vaguely.”

I went into the whole sordid situation.  I ended up on Savannah’s couch.

“So let me get this straight.  You didn’t tell Daisy you were seeing Kyra, and you didn’t tell Kyra you were seeing Daisy.”

I nodded. “Then when I got to Sunset Valley I had to tell Daisy the truth.  She hasn’t spoken to me since.  I can’t say I blame her.”

“What about Kyra?”

“After I told Kyra about Daisy, she went to the press and told this reporter that she is pregnant.  She says I’m the father.”

Savannah took a deep breath and shook her head.  “Oh, Bassy.  I can’t believe you got yourself into this mess.”

“You can’t believe it?” I whispered.  “What about me?”

Savannah sighed again.  “Bassy, you better hope and pray to the Watcher that this isn’t your child, or you are in a whole hell of a lot of trouble.  You need a DNA test.  And you need to tell Kyra right away.”

She took a deep breath and sternly warned, “But, I will say this.  If this is your child, Sebastian, you have to step up and take responsibility.  You have to be a father.  Your childhood is over, you’ve got to grow up and be a man.”

The morning after pill Part 2: A visit with Savannah

Savannah’s youngest daughter, Sierra, was watching a sports telecast on TV.  Goodness, the more I look at her, the more I’m seeing mom’s old pictures of Savannah herself when she was younger. 

“Sierra refuses to wear a dress,” Savannah tells me, “and I can’t tell her anything because I was the same way.”

Savannah said that at Sierra’s request she enrolled her in scouting classes at Alpine School. 

We walked inside the kitchen.  The pecking order is still the same, she goes first and I follow behind.  It’s been that way since we were young and it’s not going to change now, lol.

So anyway, we’re having hamburgers Aubrey cooked, right, and there’s a woman there named Gabriella Ornales.  Apparently she’s a friend of Andy and Savannah. 

Anyway, I decided to bounce my screenplay ideas off at the table. 

“Really, Bassy?  You’re writing a screenplay?” Savannah squealed.  “What’s it about?”

Just then Sage decided to join us.  She wore a floor-length pink skirt with a flared vest. 

“It’s about this movie star, right, he’s the son of a composer, he wants to be a composer too but he’s afraid of stepping into his dad’s shadow … anyway, he has these three women in his life …”

“Hold it, Bassy, wait a minute… three women?” yelled Savannah. 

“Is it always like this at your dinners?” laughed Gabriella.

“Pretty much,” Andy laughed back, “you should see when her parents join us.”

“His co-star, his childhood sweetheart and his mom.”  Sage and Sierra hung on every syllable I uttered while Gabriella put up the trays. 

The morning after pill Part 1

These days, my bed companion is Honey, my golden retriever.  She and I slept in the next day. 

Then, when we woke up, Honey decided that she wanted a bath, so I had to go in and fix the leaky bathtub so that she could get in it. 

After her bath, a gentle coat brushing was in order. 

I’ve been wanting to do a screenplay for some time, so since I was off work and had some free time, I decided to get started.  Kristy had shown me the basics of writing for the screen, which is different from any other kind of writing.  It isn’t just about the words, but also about the camera angles and how they go along with the words.  Very much a challenge. 

I also need to compose a letter to Kyra.  But I haven’t the foggiest idea what to even say to her.  Words fail me.  I suppose I could call my sister, for she’s never short of words, but I can’t burden her with my problem.  I made this mess, I’ve got to dig myself out of it.  I figured out that if Imsety is in town, then my sister is as well.  

So, right now, in the notes I have, Parker Stephens is the biggest movie star in the land, and he’s juggling three women in his life – his ailing mother, his childhood sweetheart, and the gorgeous co-star of his latest film.  His co-star says she is pregnant.

So, Honey and I took the little jog to my sister Savannah’s rented vacation house. 

Savannah led me through the living room and showed me around.  Her hired butler, Aubrey Troutman, went into the kitchen to prepare a meal. 

Savannah tells me that she’s in town at the special request of the Queen herself, to rid the mansion of the ghosts which had infiltrated it before her son’s wedding in a few days.  “This is the new Banshee Blaster,” Savannah said, showing me a futuristic looking tool, “the Queen herself paid for it.”

“Really?” I said. 

“I’m being paid rather handsomely for this gig,” she tells me, “not that we actually need the money, of course.”

She then goes on to tell me that she’s looking into enrolling Sage at Le Fromage Art School.  She pulled out a recent picture of her first-born daughter.

"

“Goodness she’s lovely!” I squealed.  “I bet I could get my agent on the phone right now and get her a job in Bridgeport.”

Savannah laughed.  “I’m not sure she’s even interested in show business.  Andy and I, we haven’t pushed our kids in any direction.  Whatever they’re interested in is fine with us, as long as it’s not crime.  We certainly weren’t pushed, were we, Bassy?”

I nodded my head in agreement.  I mean, how different could we have turned out?  She’s the foremost paranormal expert in Sim Nation and a noted archaeologist.  And me?  I like to think of myself as a moderately successful actor.  I think.

She was telling me that she was also promoting her new book, Alys in Wonderland, which is due out this month.  She encountered the ghost of a long-dead queen back in Sunset Valley. 

“What’s going on with you?” she finally asked after talking a mile a minute.  “Sebastian—”

Silence.

“Bassy, there’s something you’re not telling me.  You may be the biggest movie star in the world, but you are still and always will be my little brother.”

Madison

 

While I was walking out of the diner, my eyes fell upon this gorgeous woman.  I thought she was Kyra, but apparently she wasn’t.  I decided to walk over and say hello. 

“What’s your name?” I asked her.

“Madison.  Madison Westley.”

“Westley, eh?” I said to myself.  I had never heard the name.

“Are you from here?”

“No, my mom and I are here vacationing.  We’re from Starlight Shores.  You?”

"It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got all day, I can hear it.”

We were then joined by her mother, Shelly Guyton.  I actually thought they could pass for sisters.  Shelly explained that she’d had Madison as a teenager and that Madison’s father, a man named Mitch Westley, was a much older man.  She also explained that as soon as Madison could walk, she’d begun entering her in beauty pageants. 

“I was born and raised in Sunset Valley.  I moved to Bridgeport as a young adult and then I ended up here.”

“What’s your name, young man?”

I debated on whether I should tell them the truth or not.  I’m obviously not a very good liar, so I decided to tell only part of the truth.  “Sebastian,” I croaked.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Sebastian,” Shelly said. 

While I was talking to Shelly, Madison got out her cell phone and took a picture of my dad.  I couldn’t tell her just then that he is actually my dad.  Neither could I tell her who I was.

When Shelly left, Madison whispered that she wanted to check out Lars’ Disco-Tech down the street.  So I figured, okay, why not, sure. 

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Madison getting her cell phone out to take pictures.

She was quite the mover out on the dance floor. 

We couldn’t keep our eyes off of each other.  I already know I’m going to be in deeper doo doo. 

Reflections

I went down to Subalpine Square in the middle of Hidden Springs and just sat there, wondering how the heck I got into this mess.  I knew that I had no one to blame but myself for it.  Kyra is pregnant, but I don’t remember ever woohooing with her.  I’m not saying it didn’t happen, I never said it didn’t happen, just that I don’t remember it.  I may have been drunk one night after clubbing, I don’t know.  I hardly remember anything that happened in Bridgeport.  Things occurred so quickly.  Before I knew it I was a celebrity, going to every A-list party.  I tried to stay on the straight and narrow and now look where I am. 

I was teed off at Neil for getting Noelle pregnant, and now I’ve gone and done the same thing.  How self-righteous of me.  Savannah would be proud of me for saying that.  Go ahead, say it.  I’m a sanctimonious SOB.  Kyra is pregnant and I’m going to be a father.  I am so not ready for this.

I was hungry, so I decided to walk to the diner.  Judging by the number of cars parked in front, the place was packed.  Still, I managed to see a familiar face, complete with his guitar.

Dad!?!  What’s he doing here?

I knew it had to be my father because I know no one else with that bright burgundy dress-robe.  It’s his signature. 

“Dad!” I called three times, but it seemed like he was off in another world. 

“Hey, son,” he said, reaching for me.  His eyes told me he had something to say to me, but he couldn’t say it here, in public. 

That’s one thing about dad, he doesn’t really say much.  He pretty much never said much at all.  He communicates using his eyes and his music.  We pretty much knew when he wanted to talk to us. 

Then I looked over and saw a young man who kind of looked familiar.  No, it couldn’t be.  It was.

Imsety back from boarding school.  Boy, he’s tall.  Sprouted like a weed.

Imsety, you remember, was one of the two children my sister Savannah adopted from Egypt.  He began acting out when he was a teenager and then a judge sentenced him to boot camp.  Apparently he forgot to take off his army fatigues.