Reunion

Written for "The Balance of Chaos Contest" Oct '09    (Word Count: 1861)

Prompts:

Dark Quote Prompt
If you don't believe in ghosts, you've never been to a family reunion. ~Ashleigh Brilliant

Light Quote Prompt
Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense. ~ Mark Overby

Dark Picture Prompt
A seductively enchanting woman against the backdrop of a stormy night.

Light Picture Prompt
A young man walking with son/brother across soccer/football field in warm embrace.

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Reunion

by WordImperfect

"Dad. Do I really have to go to this reunion "thing" today? I don't want to!" Dexter sounded both serious and defiant.

"Please, Dexter...It will be much better this time....I promise." Ronnie had been hoping and praying for quite some time that it would, indeed, be better.

"Okay, but only if you stop calling me 'Dexter'; It sounds so dorky, Dad. Call me 'Dex'...please!"

Ronnie had been anticipating this day for a long time. The Watson Family Reunion, held every five years at the playground adjacent to the home Ronnie grew up in, was finally today. Don't mis-understand: It wasn't that Ronnie had a special desire to see any family or friends in particular or for a specific reason. It was just that five years earlier, it was at the reunion that Ronnie and his wife, Melissa, had the mother of all arguments; one that for all intents and purposes was the last straw for both of them, since they filed for divorce only a few days after the event. What had gnawed at Ronnie for the last five years was the fact that all of this had happened in front of the then-couple's son, Dexter, who was only four at the time. The screaming. The shouting. The expletives. The literal tug-of-war that occurred when each spouse, both of whom had been drinking heavily, had demanded that "Dexter - you're leaving with me" as they left the reunion, which had resulted in a terrified Dexter resembling the main attraction at a taffy pull. So, it was little wonder that Dexter had some emotional baggage. Nor was the fact that Dex was currently seeing a counselor to try to control his anger issues. Ronnie felt that a good experience at the reunion for Dexter today would do wonders towards easing some of the pain that still lingered from 5 years earlier.

Ronnie would be the first to admit that he had certainly gotten carried away that day 5 years ago; it was the primary reason he had given up drinking. In Ronnie's mind, however, it was Melissa who had done the real number on Dexter. Melissa had been drifting away from Ronnie and Dexter for some time prior to the melt-down at the reunion, apparently as a result of a peculiar - and growing - fascination with the occult and/or witchcraft. In fact, it was at the reunion that Melissa had reportedly cast some sort of spell or curse on Ronnie and Dexter, and was one of the primary reasons Ronnie had been awarded full custody of Dexter by the divorce court. What also bothered Ronnie was that Melissa didn't put up much resistance to Ronnie getting full custody of Dexter, telling the court that she was "...compelled to serve the 'Master' - first - in other ways," whatever that meant.

"C'mon Dext..Oh! I mean Dex. It's four o'clock...the fun stuff's about to begin.""

Shortly thereafter, Dexter emerged from his bedroom and joined his dad, and they left their house to make the relatively short journey down the street, crossing the practice soccer field to the family reunion at the south end of the park. Along the way, Ronnie took playful boxing-like jabs at Dex, and Dex in kind took pretend kick-boxing strikes back at his dad. Ronnie gave Dex a quick hug. He sensed that this would be a good day - a day of redemption if you will - and not just for the five years of painful memories incurred by each one of them resulting from the last reunion. This would show their family - as well as themselves - that the recurring nightmarish memories of that evil wife and mother would now be completely be erased from their memories and forever replaced with some happy, "normal" thoughts.

The Watsons - about 150 strong - had reserved most of the south end of the park for the reunion, including a large covered shelter, should the weather turn nasty. However, it was a bright, crisp early-autumn day, in the upper 60's, and the forecast was for excellent weather throughout the evening. Ronnie and Dexter were greeted warmly by the mostly blue-collar relatives - folks who worked hard and played hard, too. Ronnie looked over and checked out Uncle Charlie (every family has an "Uncle Charlie") who had been there since the festivities began at noon and was already on the brink of passing out. Fortunately, most others still appeared to be in pretty good control of their faculties which was a good sign for Ronnie, whose main concern was that an environment which featured excessive drinking might trigger the return of some bad "karma" deep from within Dexter from five years ago. While continuing with the greetings, Ronnie continued to look around for events he might be able to do with his son. He saw games like horseshoes, corn-holing, ring toss, bobbing for apples, badminton and even croquet being played.

"C'mon, Dex...let's play some croquet. I'll kick your butt!"

"We'll see about that, Dad. You're not as young as you used to be. Old man!"

Ronnie feigned contempt at Dexter's remarks, and the two made their way over to the croquet area. Two of Ronnie's cousins, Larry and Phil, were just getting ready to start a new match and welcomed two more players. As the match progressed, so did the teasing between Ronnie and Dexter, so when the opportunity for Ronnie to clobber Dexter's ball arrived, Ronnie's gaze met Dexter's.

"Get ready to chase this, my friend...like into the next county!"

With that, Ronnie sent Dexter's ball far out of the playing area and over by a maintenance shed. Dexter laughed, and with an "I'll get you for that, Dad," started the journey over to his ball to take his turn. Ronnie took the opportunity to stroll over to a nearby picnic table to get apple cider for the foursome. As he was making small talk with some of his relatives, somebody said, "Well, that wasn't in the forecast this morning!"

Ronnie turned to see a mass of dark, threatening storm clouds headed in their direction. He then turned his attention towards Dexter, who was a good 40 or 50 yards away, still over by the maintenance shed. Dexter's back was to the field, and he appeared to be talking to someone standing behind the shed.

"Dexter! C'mon back over here. Who are you talking to?"

Dexter turned around and waved back to his dad. As he did so, Ronnie briefly caught a glimpse of another person. It was a female, dressed in a ghostly and - only his ex would dare wear this - revealing gown that Ronnie knew all too well! It was that damn bitch! "Dexter!!!" Ronnie dropped the quartet of ciders and broke into a full sprint towards the shed. As he ran, with everything he had in him, Ronnie cursed himself for allowing a situation where Dexter might be vulnerable to her. He loved that kid, and he had sworn to himself he would do everything he could to protect Dex - even if it meant harming someone else in the process.

By the time Ronnie neared the shed, Dexter had already turned around, and was heading back toward the croquet area. Ronnie ran past Dexter and to the rear of the shed in search of Melissa. She was gone. How she had vanished - virtually into thin air - was a mystery to Ronnie. He turned and trotted back to his son. The threatening clouds began to break up just as quickly as they had arrived.

"Dexter...are you okay? What is that?" Dexter was holding a branch from a rose bush, which Ronnie grabbed to examine, cutting himself in the process.

"Mommy said it would protect me from evil. And don't call me 'Dexter'...Call me..."

"Stop it, Dexter! That's not important right now." Dexter had a distant look in his eyes as Ronnie hugged his son tightly. "No more croquet today, Dexter. Let's find something else fun to do." Ronnie figured that at this point, the best thing to do was to get that crazy woman's visit out of both of their minds, and that quickly switching to another activity might do the trick.

"How about horseshoes? I was the champion of the high school te.."

"No." Dexter's face was now one of zero expression; akin perhaps to that of one in a hypnotic state. Ronnie attributed this to the shock of Dexter seeing his mom after all of this time. Hell, Ronnie himself felt like he had just seen a ghost...he could only imagine the impact on a kid!

"Okay, how about ring toss? I'll bet I can kick your bu..."

"No."

"All right...you tell me Dexter: What do we play now?" Ronnie hadn't noticed Dexter flinch whenever Ronnie said the dreaded 'Dexter' instead of the preferred 'Dex' at the reunion; nor did he notice the trace of a smile when Dexter finally replied.

"How about bobbing for apples?"

Ronnie inwardly felt a sense of relief that Dexter had shown an interest in doing something - anything - and hoped that this would snap Dexter out of his lethargic state.

"Great. The tub is open right now. Let's get over there and I'll show you how it's done."

The two proceeded over to the apple-bobbing tub, and Ronnie knelt down in front of the tank. Just prior to immersing his head into the apple-laden water, Ronnie smiled and said,"Say good-bye to the apple-bobbing champion."

Dexter closed his eyes and replied, "Goodbye Dad."

"Well, isn't that the damnedest thing?" A relative made note of yet another freakish collection of darkening clouds to the west. No one noticed as Dexter opened his eyes and shifted his stare toward the maintenance shed. No one noticed the reappearance of the gowned female near the shed, staring at the increasingly-threatening sky, and uttering an unintelligible sequence of sounds. No one noticed that Ronnie, having apparently snared his quest under water, was now having some difficulty bringing his head out of the water. Nor did anyone notice Dexter's right hand, open palm facing downward, and giving the appearance of restraining an imaginary object.

In a matter of seconds, Ronnie was thrashing wildly, trying desperately to remove his head from the water-filled plastic tub, which now suddenly had become an immovable object. Now aware of Ronnie's distress, folks in the area tried pulling his head from beneath the water level, but with no success. Someone came over with a hammer and an ice pick, and began punching holes in the tub's side near the base. The process worked, and streams of water flowed from the base of the tub. However, as quickly as the water had drained from the tub, the time spent submerged had proven too great for Ronnie to overcome. When Dexter raised his right hand from his side, Ronnie's now-lifeless body slumped to the ground.

Dexter, still expressionless, began to head slowly towards the shed. Cousin Larry, assuming Dexter to be in shock, grabbed him by the shoulder and tried to comfort the boy.

"Hold on there, Dexter, help will be here shortly."

Dexter broke the grip of Larry, and continued his slow march towards the shed.

"Don't call me 'Dexter'...Call me...'Master'."