The Warmth of Our Closest Star (Enzo and Peter Book 2) by Chase Connor

Author:Chase Connor [Connor, Chase]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lion Fish Press, The
Published: 2022-07-08T03:00:00+00:00

“I’m done,” I said, coming to a stop in front of the chair where Peter was sitting, reading a book in one of the uncomfortable, utilitarian-looking chairs in the lobby. “We can go home.”

Peter started, looked up, and chuckled.

“What’s the verdict?” he asked nervously. “What did they say?”

“I’m a U.S. citizen,” I said with a smile.

I had to have been experiencing some type of shock. After being told that my three-plus-years quest to become a U.S. citizen had come to the preferred conclusion, I should have been bouncing around like a rabbit. Maybe it was the exhaustion. Or the fact that becoming a citizen of the United States was met with such little fanfare. Not that I’d expected a parade and confetti upon passing my oral citizenship exam, but…maybe a certificate? Some music to play from a speaker? A chime to indicate that I had passed? Something. The reason for my disposition could have been a combination of things, but I wanted to go home.

After a little more than three years, I was a United States citizen. Peter and I were considered the same legally by the federal government. I’d been told by Mr. Barton that I would be given an interpreter position at Source Language, Inc. once I had taken my oath. My salary would be more than enough to make me feel as though I could contribute meaningfully to our household.

But I felt empty.

Something no one had ever explained to me—and I’m certain no one has ever had it explained to them—is that there are many arbitrary labels and characteristics that are used to define a person. Not for their good, but for others. Nationality. Race. Ethnicity. Sexual identity. Gender. Religion. Socio-economic class. Intelligence. Education. They inform other people who a person is, and, maybe, in some ways, they help us understand ourselves better, help us build a foundation of understanding of where we came from, where we’re going, and who we will become.

But if one of those labels can be changed by the laws of a land and a pile of paperwork, did it ever really mean anything? Wouldn’t changing something that, at one time, was so significant to someone’s identity, feel like…something? I was French. I was Canadian. Then I was American. It meant nothing. It only informed a government that I was legally allowed to permanently live and work in the country for whose laws they enacted and oversaw.

Even if I’d failed my test—or if the USCIS officer hadn’t approved my citizenship for other reasons—it wouldn’t have changed my marriage. It wouldn’t have changed that Mr. Barton was willing to give me a better job as an interpreter. It didn’t change any of my other identities. My new citizenship was merely another box that was checked in my journey of life that moved me from one point to another.

No more; no less. I’d spent three years finding that out.

“Are you serious?” Peter leapt from the chair, his book fluttering to the ground.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in, covering my mouth with his.

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