Home For The Holidays - Chapter 1

He was sitting at his desk, marking finals when the phone rang. He was content to leave it alone but it just kept ringing. Fighting the temptation to toss the phone at the wall to end its constant nagging, the professor drained what scotch was left in his glass and then picked up the receiver.

“Malcolm Jackson,” he said with sharp tone, “Who the hell is this?”

“Mal, it’s Kim.” The voice on other end replied.

“Kim?” Malcolm said as he put down the final he was marking. “How long has it been? A year? Two?”

“Too long,” Kim said as she didn’t sound very happy.

Malcolm could tell there was something wrong by the tone of her voice. It was clear to him she wasn’t calling with good news. “Kim, what’s going on?”

“It’s Dad.” She replied.

Malcolm could feel a shiver run up his spine as she said the words. Despite the fact the he didn’t get along with his old man, this wasn’t the call any man wanted to get this time of year. Yet the old man was running into his mid-eighties, it was inevitable. “When did it happen?”

“They found him yesterday,” Kim said as she sobbed uncontrollably. “They said it was a heart attack and that no one found him until a few days later.”

“Shit.” Malcolm said as he sat back and started to scratch his four day old beard. “Have you talked to David and Dick?”

“Not yet,” Kim replied.

“I’ll do it.” Malcolm said as he could tell Kim was already broken up about it. Hearing hear cry on the phone was annoying enough, he wasn’t going to make his brothers put up with it as well.

“Thanks, Mal.” Kim said as she sniffled a bit.

“And don’t worry about the funeral.” Malcolm told her, “I’m sure Dad was insured and even if he wasn’t we all have more than enough to cover it.”

“Thank you,” Kim said again. They talked for a few more minutes and then Malcolm eventually let her go.

He sat there in the middle of his empty office and thought about what just happened. He felt like a gladiator that was just told his mortal enemy was gone. He was like Batman without his Joker, lost and with a feeling of being incomplete.

Malcolm poured himself another drink, and took down at least half of it before fishing his cell phone out of his pocket. He dialed one of the few numbers in his contacts list and waited for a few rings.

“Hello?” the other side answered.

“Dick, it’s Malcolm.”

“What’s up, Mal?”

“Haven’t talked to you in a while, nice season in Cali.”

“Thanks bro.”

“You were totally hosed,” Malcolm continued, “You should have been the MVP.”

“I know,” Dick said with a laugh, “but you gotta spread the love. So why are you calling? I know it just isn’t to talk about the game.”

“I just talked to Kim,” Malcolm answered, “Dad has kicked the bucket.”

There was a long pause, as it was clear Dick needed a moment to let it sink in and his younger brother give him all the time that he needed. Dick was closer to his father than he was but no one was talking to him very much so it couldn’t be as earth shattering as it seemed. It took a few seconds before the conversation took the usual route it always does.

“Is the funeral covered?” he asked.

“Probably,” Malcolm answered, “If not we can go Dutch. Leave David and Kim out of it. Not like we’re suffering.”

“No shit,” Dick agreed as he was only entering the second year of his massive new contract that was worth well over one hundred and fifty million dollars.

“Look, I don’t like this anymore than you do,” Malcolm said as he paused to take another sip of scotch, “But we’re going to have to hold the funeral next week.”

“But next week is Christmas!” Dick said as he seemed surprised by the suggestion, “Can’t we keep him on ice until next year?”

“I’d prefer to keep him on ice forever,” Malcolm concurred, “But Kim and David have a limited travel schedule and kids that only get so much time off of school. We might have to suck it up just for them. They’re going to take it a lot harder than we will so we might have to do the heavy lifting over the holiday. You know what big sucks they can be. Remember how they were at Mom’s funeral?”
for visiting.

“Yeah,” Dick confirmed as he thought back, “I can’t see them being that bad for Dad. I mean when was the last time you even talked to the old man?”

“Feels like forever,” Malcolm answered, “We didn’t exactly get along.”

“That’s the understatement of the century.” Dick said as he laughed. “Alright, we’ll do it next week. Where are we going to stay?”

“I’m going to book everyone for the hotel.” Malcolm said, “I’ll hit the phones and find something right after I get off with you.”

“What about David?” Dick asked.

“It’s still night where he is, I don’t want to wake him up cause he probably has to work tomorrow.” Malcolm replied, “No point waking him up now. The news will still be the same when I call him later.”

“Are you sure we need a hotel?” We could always use the house,” Dick suggested, “I mean if we’re going to be there for the holidays, why not be together?”

“Not my first choice,” Malcolm confessed, “I’ll do my best to avoid that.”

“All right,” Dick said as he understood, “But at least we have a back up.”

“I hate to ruin your plans,” Malcolm said to his brother, “But you’ll have to leave the warm weather of California and head home this Christmas.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dick said as he didn’t seem bothered, “The off season last three months, I got plenty of time to hit the beach.”

“Alright” Malcolm said as he wasn’t in the mood to debate about it. “I’ll see you in Wisconsin.”