Coda: A United Federation Marine Corps Short Story by Jonathan Brazee

Author:Jonathan Brazee [Brazee, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Semper Fi Press
Published: 2017-08-23T22:00:00+00:00

Noah

Shocked when Esther ran across the cluttered room and threw herself on the woman, it took Noah a moment to process what she had just said.

Mother?

The woman put her frail arms around Esther, and Jimmy, caught between them, began to cry. Noah took a step towards them, still confused.

“Noah,” the old man to the side of the room said quietly.

Noah turned to him, his mind trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

Did Ess say “Mother?”

Things began to click into place. Somehow, that woman lying on the bed was their mother. But that was impossible. She’d been with his father when the last remnants of the old Federation had assassinated him. If she was alive, then . . .

He looked at the old man, but nothing was registering. It had been 44 years since his parents’ murder, and even given that time span, the man didn’t look anything like the father he’d remembered. Could it be? But if that was his mother there, still holding the sobbing Esther, then could the old man be his father?

A wave of nausea swept over him as emotions began to roil inside him.

“Are you my father?” he asked, barely getting the words out.

“Yes, Noah, I am,” the man said, holding his arms outstretched and taking a step towards him.

Noah recoiled. He didn’t want to believe it, but General Simone and Hans Çağlar were nodding. His parents had not been murdered so many years ago, but had somehow escaped their fate.

And they’d never let Esther or him know. They’d lived out their lives, forgetting about their two surviving children.

The man—his father—took another step forward, and Noah stepped away from him, pulling Bryce behind him as if protecting the boy.

“Where were you all this time!” he shouted out. “Why did you let us think you were dead!”

A look of disappointment fell across his father’s face, and he stopped, letting his hands drop to his sides.

“We had to, for the good of the Federation, Noah. We had to disappear, or all we’d done, all I’d done, would tear the Federation apart.”

“You . . . you planned it? And you didn’t tell us?”

“Noah! What’s wrong with you? Mom and Dad are alive, and we’re together again!” Esther said, finally breaking her hold on their mother and looking back at him.

“They lied to us. They abandoned us, Ess, like unwanted puppies!”

Tears formed in their father’s eyes, and he sat down heavily on a chair, his head sinking down into his upraised hands.

“I told you this was a bad idea, Jorge. We should have stayed dead.”

“You should never have died in the first place,” Noah screamed. He turned and bolted from the house, running from his past.

He had no idea where he was going as he ran through the peanuts, peanuts his father had evidently planted. He stomped on some as he ran, taking out his anger. It wasn’t until the harvester came down a row at him that he stopped his tantrum and stepped to the side, trying to calm his breathing.

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