Remembrance By Icecat62 Johnny and Jennifer sat at the picnic table, side by side, eating their simple meals of hotdogs and potato salad. It was a typical spring day and to everyone's delight, the DeSoto's had decided to host an impromptu picnic, inviting everyone from the station and a few other friends and guests. As Jennifer picked at the burnt skin on her hotdog, she looked at her mom and dad. Mother's Day was coming soon and she'd have to think of something special to make for her mom. Looking at Johnny, she wondered what his mom was like and if he ever made her gifts. The words tumbled from her mouth along with a piece of chewed hotdog bun. "Uncle Johnny, what's your mom like?" Johnny automatically reached over and flicked the piece of food from her shirt. Jennifer's simple question caught him off guard until he remembered that Mother's Day would be coming up in a few weeks. It was a holiday he hadn't celebrated since his mother had died when he was eight. The image of his mother lying in bed wasting away from cancer popped into his mind. He quickly pushed it aside to the way he wanted to remember her. Happy and healthy, full of laughter and light. Putting his fork down, he smiled at Jennifer. "My mom was the best. It didn't matter what I did, she'd always tell me how much she loved me." "Even when you were bad?" He tweaked Jennifer's nose. "Especially when I was bad." Jennifer grinned, then cocked her head to the side. "What's she look like?" "Mom was kinda' short. She'd probably be about this tall." He indicated a spot in the middle of his chest. "I'm a little taller than my dad and that's about where she was when she stood next to him." "Does she look like you?" A feeling of sadness swept over him as he realized that Jennifer was talking about his mom like she was alive. He'd never really talked about her before, so no one really knew anything about her. "Um…Jen…my mom died a long time ago." Jennifer gave him a sad look and tucked her head down. "I'm sorry." "Hey…don't be sorry." He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her head up so she looked at him. "When you or anyone else asks me about my mom, it's nice. It's like someone else is remembering her with me." Reaching into the back pocket of his jeans, he pulled out a worn leather wallet that his dad had given him as a high school graduation gift. Opening it, he took a faded black and white photograph out. He held it so Jennifer could look at it. "This is my mom and dad." Jennifer squinted and frowned as she pointed at the man in the photo. "That's not you?" Johnny smiled as he looked at the photo. "No sweetheart, that's my dad. Mom always said we were two peas in a pod 'cause I looked so much like him. At least I looked like his pictures of him when he was a kid. She'd probably be telling everyone she told them so 'cause we look so much alike now." Jennifer reached a hand out to take the photo, but hesitated until Johnny smiled and handed it to her. "Your mom sure was pretty." "Yes she was. Dad said he knew the moment he met her, he was gonna' marry her. He use to brag that she was the prettiest girl in the county." Jennifer gave him a curious look. "Was she?" Taking the photo back from Jennifer, he looked at it and smiled again. With her long brown hair hanging loosely around her face, she did look beautiful. She had the type of face that didn't need make-up to look nice and she was shaped well in all the right places. Tucking the photo carefully back in his wallet, he grinned. "I may be biased, but yeah…she was the prettiest girl in the county." "What's biased?" "It means I'd probably think that she was the prettiest because she was my mom." "Oh." Johnny thought about the way people would look at his mom when they went out to places. No, he wasn't biased, she was beautiful. An image of her dressed for a local Pow Wow made him smile again. He said the words without thinking. "My mom use to let me braid her hair when she'd go to the Pow Wows." Jennifer's eyes lit up in amazement. "You can braid hair?!" Johnny quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard Jennifer. "Well…yeah…at least I use to." "Braid mine!" Jennifer turned her back to him and he froze. Johnny looked frantically around him. How in the heck was he going to get out of this? He'd never live it down if anyone saw him braiding Jennifer's hair. It wasn't…manly. At least to a group of people who didn't do it. Heck, where he was from, most of the men had long hair and the majority of them braided it. With a mental shrug he took some of Jennifer's long blond hair in his hands and began to weave it together in a plait. His dad use to braid his own hair and he was more than a man. His grandfather too. And when he was younger, he remembered having his own hair braided as well when it had been waaaaay longer than it was now. He smiled at the thought of what Chief McConnikie would think if he went on duty with a braid. He made quick work of the golden mass before realizing he didn't have a ribbon or band to tie the hair off with. "Um Jen. It's not gonna' stay 'cause I don't have anything to tie it off…" He stopped talking as Jennifer's arm shot up and she pulled a rubberband off her wrist and held it up to him without turning around. Taking the band from her, he wondered just why the little girl was running around with a rubberband on her wrist. With a few quick twists of the band, he wrapped it around the end of the braid until it was snug. "All done." Reaching a hand back, Jennifer felt the braid and turned around to face Johnny. She had a look of wonderment and surprise on her face. "Thank you, Uncle Johnny!" Before he could say anything, she jumped up and hugged him. To his horror, she darted away from him, yelling at the top of her lungs. "Mom look! Uncle Johnny braided my hair!!!" He could feel his face turning hot as everyone turned to look at Jennifer and then at him. Jennifer bounced in front of Joanne, her voice high pitched with excitement. She proceeded to tell her everything they had talked about. When she turned to look back at him, she had the brightest smile and the proudest look on her face like he had worked some sort of magic. The only magic he wished he could perform at the moment was a disappearing act. Chet called across the yard to him, raising the beer in his hand at the same time. "Way to go John. I always knew you were 'in touch' with your feminine side." There were a few titters of laughter that made his face grow even hotter. "Shut up Chet!" Jennifer looked from Chet, to Johnny, then to the people standing around that were laughing. She didn't know why they were laughing, but she could tell that it wasn't something nice. She'd been laughed at before and knew how much it hurt. Stomping over to Chet, she yelled at him. "You're a poopy head! You just wish 'you' could braid hair the way Uncle Johnny does!" Chet grinned as he looked down at the irate little girl. "Oh yeah. I sure wish 'I' could braid hair. It would come in handy if I ever wanted to braid a chicks hair on a date." The chuckles were joined this time by Roy's slightly miffed voice. "Jennifer, you apologize to Mr. Kelly right this instance." Jennifer frowned and stomped a small sneaker clad foot. "No, he's a poopy head! Maybe if his mom was a nice as Uncle Johnny's was, he wouldn't be so mean!" Chet frowned slightly. "My mom's nice." Roy's voice grew stern. "Jennifer, you're not supposed to talk to adults like that. Apologize now or you'll have to go to your room." Jennifer's lips thinned and her expression grew defiant. From his vantage point, Johnny knew that Jennifer was about to get sent to her room and over something as stupid as him braiding her hair. If Chet wasn't such a jerk, there wouldn't have been a problem. No one else seemed to care. Getting up from the picnic table, he walked over to where the trio stood. He also noticed that everyone in the yard was now looking at him. Great. Now he was the center of attention again and that was the last thing he wanted. "Roy, it's not her fault. If Chet would learn to keep his fat mouth shut, there wouldn't 'be' a problem." Roy sighed. "Johnny, I can't let Jennifer go around calling people names…no matter who started it." Roy gave Chet a pointed look. Chet's eyebrows raised a fraction. "What?! What'd I do? I'm not the one braiding hair." Jennifer piped up again. "Uncle Johnny's mom didn't think there was nothin' wrong with him braiding her hair." Johnny took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. There was nothing wrong with braiding hair. Or at least that's what he kept saying to himself, but in this culture it seemed to be a bit of a taboo. "Chet…just lay off okay. I don't say stuff about your mom, you don't say stuff about mine. Deal?" He now stared at Chet, hoping that he got the hint. Chet on the other hand smiled smugly back at him. "Why? Is your mommy going to spank me if I don't?" Jennifer snapped at Chet's words. "Uncle Johnny's mom is 'dead'! It's not nice to talk about dead people like that." She turned an angry face to Roy, "Are they Dad? You said you should never say bad stuff about dead people 'cause it's not 'spectful." Johnny wanted to find the nearest hole in the ground and crawl into it. The only sounds to be heard now were the birds chirping in the trees and some burgers sizzling on the grill. Chet cleared his throat and had the grace to look embarrassed, "Hey…I didn't know. I'm sorry." Shrugging his shoulders, Johnny could feel the stares again. It made him feel like he was a little kid standing in front of the class getting reamed by the teacher. "Ah, that's okay. You didn't know." Jennifer looked up at Roy. "See Dad, he apologized for being mean." Roy didn't know what to say next. He still felt that Jennifer should apologize to Chet for her colorful language and disrespect, but he also felt that Chet had been out of line as well. The solution popped in his head. "Well, since Mr. Kelly apologized, then maybe you should too." Jennifer frowned and looked up at Chet. "I'm sorry I called you a poopy head for making fun of Uncle Johnny's mom and him braiding her hair." Chet felt like a heal. He'd made fun of a dead mom. He shuddered slightly, hoping his own mother would never find out this little fact. She'd chew him out from here to forever for saying something bad about the dead. "Uh…yeah. Apology accepted." He looked uneasily at Johnny. "We're square right?" Johnny looked down at Chet, puzzled as to why the man had so quickly changed gears. Maybe he shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. "Yeah, I'm okay with it." Roy smiled slightly as Chet made a quick exit to the other side of the yard. He looked at Johnny and his smile widened. "You really braided your mom's hair?" Johnny frowned, then gave Roy a devious grin. "Yeah, but I could never do my own hair right so Mom always had to do mine. She did Dad's a lot for him too." Roy stared at Johnny trying to picture him with a long braid like Jennifer. Jennifer reached over and took one of Johnny's hands in hers. "I'm glad Uncle Johnny knows how to braid. Now he can do my hair all the time and remember his mom when he does it. Isn't that right Uncle Johnny?" Giving her hand a squeeze, he smiled down at her. "Yes it is Pumpkin." With that said, Jennifer pulled him back toward the picnic table, the disagreement quickly forgotten in the way only a child could forgive and forget. As they sat side-by-side finishing their picnic fare, Johnny took another look at the braid. He'd have to go out and buy some ribbon in the tribal colors the next time he was out. If he was going to remember his mom, he might as well honor her by doing Jennifer's hair the same way he did hers all those years ago. End Comments for Icecat62 |