Chapter 2 - The name Harrison remembered
Marcus laughed when his father stumbled backward.
“Dad?”
Harrison reached for the trash can and became violently sick.
The sound filled the room.
Marcus stared at him in disgust.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
Harrison wiped his mouth.
His eyes never left my father.
“Everyone who survived Fallujah knew Grayson.”
I looked at Dad.
For thirty years, Thomas Grayson had been a mechanic.
He repaired transmissions.
Fed stray cats behind his garage.
Complained about grocery prices.
Called me every Sunday.
His military service existed in fragments.
An old photograph.
A medal box I was never allowed to open.
The faded tattoo.
Nothing more.
Marcus apparently found Harrison’s fear amusing.
“This?”
He pointed at Dad.
“This deaf old mechanic?”
Dad didn’t react.
Harrison did.
“Shut your mouth.”
Marcus blinked.
His father had never spoken to him like that.
Dad walked toward Lily and adjusted her blanket.
Marcus stood.
“Don’t touch her.”
Dad looked at him.
Marcus sneered.
“We don’t let grease monkeys handle family property.”
Something changed in Dad’s face.
Not anger.
Something colder.
“Property?”
Marcus stepped closer.
“She’s my daughter.”
Dad looked toward me.
I nodded once.
Then he noticed the stuffed bunny.
He knew.
I had told him months earlier that if things became dangerous, I had a system.
He never knew every detail.
He didn’t need to.
Marcus stepped into Dad’s space.
“What are you going to do?”
Dad calmly asked:
“Emily, do you want this man near you?”
“No.”
“Near Lily?”
“No.”
Marcus laughed.
“You don’t decide that.”
Dad picked up his hearing aids.
But he didn’t put them back in.
Instead, he looked directly at Harrison.
“Tell your son to sit down.”
Harrison swallowed.
“Marcus.”
“What?”
“Sit down.”
Marcus stared at him.
Then at Dad.
For the first time, confusion replaced arrogance.
A nurse knocked.
“Everything alright?”
Marcus shouted:
“We’re fine.”
Dad answered louder.
“No.”
The door opened.
May you like
And standing behind the nurse were two police officers.
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
