O'Hare was a mess. The place was filled with crowds of stressed and anxious people going in every direction. To John it was all noise and confusion that somehow held a method in its madness - a method that managed to get thousands of people where they needed to go every day.
John had a little trouble finding his family in Arrivals despite the fact that they filled an entire corner of the baggage claim area.
John paused and put on his bravest smile. It had been a long flight and he wasn't particularly excited about being in Illinois again - but he wasn't going to be depressed about it. This was just
another
chapter in his life. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as he imagined.
He'd been informed that since his Father had filed his Will in Springfield, he would have to go to the Lawyer's Office for the reading with the rest of the family. The date was another month away so he had some time to kill.
He'd had to make some hard choices lately, and at the end of the day, all he could come up with was the idea that a week or two on the paternal side of the family's farm might just do him some good. He'd finally accepted the fact that the drugs and alcohol he'd been drowning in since his parents funeral wasn't making his future any brighter and he had nowhere else to be.
John heard his mother's voice in his mind "Best foot forward! You only get one chance at a first impression, Johnny. Don't mess it up."
He hadn't seen them in years so he ran through the list of their names and tried to match those names to the faces watching him intently as he approached; Uncle Bob, Aunt Ellen, Cousin Kristin, Cousin Karen, and Cousin Dan.
They crowded around him, smiled, greeted him, hugged him, and shook his hand until he found himself practically spinning in a circle to keep up.
Uncle Bob was tall but not as tall as he'd thought he'd remembered. He was grey-haired, bearded, and stout. It was obvious he was still healthy besides the fact that he was in his early fifties. The Caterpillar logo on his ball cap, dirty jeans, and flannel ensemble pegged him as a farmer from a mile away. There was nothing soft about his features but his countenance was friendly and jovial.
Aunt Ellen was a healthy forty year-old, auburn-haired woman in a matching farmer's outfit ... although the large breasts stretching her flannel made the look a little more appealing than it did on her husband. John felt a little admiration for his Uncle for scoring a younger babe for himself.
John had to smile at the realization that he was checking out his Aunt's tits and turned his thoughts to the next generation of kin greeting him.
Cousin Dan was the spitting image of his father but with chestnut brown hair and a far less mellow aura. Dan had been away the summers that John had spent at the farm and it was his room he'd used when he was there. John remembered that Dan's room was always stark and bare. There had never been anything that gave his room personality and no one really ever talked about him much. John had never given it much thought then, but in retrospect, it seemed kind of
odd
to him now.
Dan's grip was steel and his eyes were hard. John could smell the beer on his breath and pegged him as the hard-drinking barroom brawling type. He was polite enough but John could sense a wariness and hostility emanating from him that was immediately off-putting.
His Cousins Kristin and Karen ... they had certainly grown up since they'd last seen each other.
John had to collect himself a moment before forming an opinion on them. They were both short, thick in all the right places, and with breasts that rivaled their mother's in size and fullness.
He knew that Kristin was the older of the two girls. She had celebrated her twenty-first birthday a few months ago and was leaving for college soon. This would be her last summer on the farm. They were closest in age and he had tried to be friendly to her but she had never been particularly friendly towards him.
She had inherited Ellen's red hair, which she wore pulled back in a tight pony-tail, and sported a cute splash of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She wore a hoodie and jeans that hid most of her body from his gaze but he could tell she was fit and healthy. John knew from his visits as a child that you didn't grow up on a working farm and suffer a lack of exercise.
Karen was the youngest, and in John's estimation, the
slightly
cuter of the two sisters. She had also been the friendliest to him. She was the youngest of the bunch and that meant she had been relegated to tag-along status most of the time.
Her hair was a darker shade of red than Kristin's and she wore it loose so that it fell around her shoulders. She wore a simple long-sleeved t-shirt with the words "I love Chicago" in cursive letters across the front and a pair of skin-tight black jeans that outlined the contours of her shapely thick legs.
Her eyes sparkled with mischief and John had the impression that Karen was already his favorite. He felt an odd rush of excitement when she took his hand and smiled warmly at him. Kristin's grip had been all business but Karen's had a tenderness that almost caused him to pull away from her soft grip in surprise.
Finally, Aunt Ellen looked up at her husband then turned her gaze to John and smiled: "Breakfast is at Five so we best be on our way."
Dan dropped his hand on John's shoulder so hard it felt like a bag of bricks.
"Junior, I been thinkin' that we should ..."
"My names John." He had to interrupt him. "Not Junior."
"Your Pa's name is John, right? In my book, that makes you a
Junior
"
John felt the urge to punch him in the face.
"Why don't y'all go ahead," he drawled, "I can bring Junior back with me. I'm sure he could use a few cool ones after flyin' all the way out here."
John didn't feel like do anything with Dan at the moment other than jam his fist in the asshole's mouth.
"You know," John said, "I think I'd like to get a good start in the morning. I better go get some rest."
"Suit yourself," Dan said dismissively before turning away and disappearing into the crowd.
"Good idea," Uncle Bob said, "we got some work for you."
Uncle Bob looked at Ellen and then at me with a strange look on his face. "I just wanted to say that ... well ... about Grace and John ... I'm sorry."
He was hoping to avoid the conversation concerning his parent's car accident. It was still a little fresh in his mind.
Karen and Kristin exchanged a look. Aunt Ellen pulled away from Bill and took John's arm in her own.
"You come with me, you handsome Young Man! It's been so long since we've had the pleasure of your company! I want to hear all about your trip!"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
John lay in Dan's bed. He could hear his Cousins giggling and talking in the next room. Their conversation was muted but he could make out a few words now and then. He was able to ignore it for the most part ... until he heard his name.
He slid out of the warm comforter he'd wrapped around himself against the cool night and pressed his ear to the wall to spy on his cousins.
He couldn't tell who was who from their voices but he could make out the words.
" ... I'm tellin' ya, this whole deal is fucked."
"Do you think he knows?"
"No way."
"I don't see how he could be the only one who doesn't?"
"He's probably not that bright."
"C'mon, Kristin. He looks normal to me. I mean ... honestly ... he's kinda cute."
"I guess."
"He's nice."
"Ha ... good genes, huh?"
"That's not funny."
"Sure it is."
John could finally make out which voice belonged to which cousin. Kristin seemed determined to put him down and Karen seemed determined to defend him.
"You gonna do it?" Kristin asked.
"Do what?"
"Stop bein' coy," Kristin admonished her. "Answer the question!"
"Are you?" Karen asked.
"You should."
"I don't know."
"Look, It's not like there's a whole lotta guys runnin' around here these days."
