Chapter 1 Jacob
I came home from football practice and caught my mom crying. Being concerned I naturally asked what had her so upset. Mom assured me that she was crying tears of joy. She further explained that my brother Sean had called and was coming home to stay a while.
It was my turn to cry. Sean had left home over five years ago and we never heard from him. We didn't even know if he was alive or if something terrible had happened. I kind of understand why he left and I don't blame Sean for leaving the way he did.
Our father was always cruel to Sean. Dad seemed to hate Sean and would go out of his way to hurt him. Sean is five years older than me but I out grew Sean when I was in the sixth grade. I was an athlete and big for my age.
Sean was small in every sense of the word. He had small delicate features and a small frame. He was not athletic at all.
Dad used to call him vile names like sissy fag and homo and many other derogatory terms. It used to disgust me the way Dad treated Sean and I wasn't quiet about it. Sometimes dad would smack Sean around and I hated him for it.
The day Sean took off I caught dad beating Sean and screaming at him to be a man. I stood up to the old man and we had our first fist fight. I couldn't whip my father's ass then but he damned sure knew he had been in a fight. Dad did beat the crap out of me but he stopped hitting Sean.
Sean couldn't stop crying and he kept saying how sorry he was because he felt responsible for me getting beat up. That same night Sean told me he couldn't take it anymore and that he was leaving.
I tried to get him to change his mind but to no avail. That was the last any of us saw or heard from Sean, until the day he called mom.
I looked at mom and we held each
other and both of us just sobbed tears of joy. When we had cried it all out I asked mom. "When is he going to get here?" She said he would be landing at the airport tomorrow night and we would be going to pick him up. We were both very excited and I was full of questions.
Mom didn't know much more than what she had already told me. She did say.
"Sean sounded very different on the phone."
I asked. "Different how?"
She said "I'm not sure, just different." I didn't care I was just glad my brother was coming home.
The next day I could hardly concentrate on my classes. I wanted football practice to be short but it wasn't. By the time I got home I was nearly half mad with anticipation.
I could tell mom was in just as bad of shape as me, if not worse.
Mom told me that Sean had asked if our father was still here. She explained to Sean that dad had continued to be an abusive drunk right up to the bitter end. He was drunk and was being pulled over for driving drunk then he tried to run.
Dad crashed into another vehicle and a little boy in the car was killed. Dad was in the pen and would be for a very long time. Mom told Sean that I had started whipping dads ass every time he came home drunk. The physical abuse stopped but the mental and emotional abuse continued. She also told Sean that she divorced dad while he was in jail.
We pulled into the airport and went to short term parking. Then we had to find the right terminal where Sean's flight would be disembarking.
We waited anxiously for the passengers to come out. We watched and waited. But I never saw my brother.
I looked at mom and saw that she was smiling and then she jumped up and ran towards a gorgeous women that was standing in the isle just staring at us. I did a double take. It was Sean!
My brother was the gorgeous woman! My brother was now my sister! Mom was hugging Sean so tight. I ran to Sean and my mom and hugged them both.
I was speechless and full of questions. We were all full of questions. We were all so very happy to be together again the questions could wait.
We went to baggage claim and waited for Sean's bags to arrive on the carousel. I asked Sean what I should call him since Sean didn't seem to fit anymore.
She said "Call me Shawna". Then she smiled and took my hands to reassure me that she was not offended by the question. I was relieved because I didn't want to do anything to hurt her feelings.
Shawna's bags arrived and I could tell we needed a cart. She had more luggage than any person had a right to. We got everything loaded in the pick-up truck and we all jumped in for the long drive home.
Mom sat shotgun ,sis sat in the middle, and I drove. We had four and a half hours to go. I had school and a game tomorrow. I knew we would all be tired so I stopped for coffee at the first truck stop we came to.
Shawna, mom and I talked nonstop for the first two hours. Mom started drifting off to sleep. Shawna pulled mom over into her lap so mom could be more comfortable.
Then Shawna put her hand on my thigh and said "Can I ask you a serious question?"
I said "Sure anything."
"What do you think of me?" She asked. While she was asking me the question, I was thinking about her hand on my thigh. I couldn't help it. I tried hard not to think about it.
Oh crap! I was having unholy thoughts about my former brother who was now my sister. I snatched my thoughts away from where they were headed and concentrated on her question.
I said. "I think I love you and I always will. No matter what."
She gave my thigh a little squeeze and me a little smile. The squeeze gave my groin a tingle and her smile melted my heart.
She said "I was more worried about your reaction than anything I have ever worried about in my whole life."
I asked "Why are you so worried about what your dumb little brother thinks?"
She looked me dead in the eyes and said simply. "Because I love you."