The Milkman's Son by Randy Lindsay

Author:Randy Lindsay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Published: 2020-02-12T22:07:01+00:00

Chapter 11

Stalking the Family

LuAnn and I penned the opening chapter of our lives together with a trip to Florida—a place neither of us had been to separately and which we encountered for the first time as a couple. As such, it seems fitting for the two of us to make a similar trip, twenty years later, to meet my New Jersey family for the first time.

A vision of what it will be like to meet the Petrauschkes plays in my head. First the children—my nieces and nephews—will come running out of a perfectly crafted house, youngest to oldest. They’ll surround me, jumping and shouting with joy. Then Tammy, Joe, and Bill will make their way outside with happy, bouncy steps. Ear-to-ear smiles will adorn their faces. Finally, my father will stroll out the door, a fashionable pipe clenched in his jaws, and laugh at the sight before him as he offers a pithy remark . . .

The story in my head comes to a screeching halt when I have to come up with a glib, yet still wise, comment to respond.

When writing a novel, I have the luxury of spending hours thinking up those spontaneous quips. It’s not quite as easy when I’m operating in real time.

I realize my first meeting with the new family probably won’t be anything like my dream scenario. Tammy and Joe seem nice enough in their emails and their text messages, but the experience might be very different in person. Long-distance communication could be concealing a veritable encyclopedia of socially unacceptable behaviors.

Meeting anyone for the first time is an awkward event. Meeting my immediate family for the first time only multiplies those uneasy feelings. Will they like me? Will they get my sense of humor? Or will they decide I’m a thorn in the family’s back end? What if we just stare at each other in endless, awkward silence?

Maybe I shouldn’t be in such a hurry to go to New Jersey. The state will still be there next year . . . and the year after.

The only question is whether all of the Petrauschkes will be around in a couple of years.

I decide that putting off the visit will haunt me for the rest of my life if something happens to a member of the New Jersey family before I have a chance to meet them. Besides, all families have unique behaviors that others find odd. My Arizona family certainly has its share of quirks, eccentricities, and outright bad habits. Those peculiar bits of strangeness are often what I love most about them. I’m sure it will be the same with this new batch of characters.

I open my email and respond to Tammy. “I have to admit I was worried about whether it’d be all right for me to come out and visit. I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone. I will let you know when my wife schedules our flight so you know what dates we will be there.”

The daydream still lingers in my mind.

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