Free A Lethal Legacy by P. C. Zick Page A

leave her alone with Kristina. Claire and my mother assured all of us
that Pam's depression was normal and would soon disappear.
    Finally, Claire
convinced Pamela to bring the baby and come home with her right after
Thanksgiving. They decided Gary would drive to Ann Arbor for Christmas. By then,
everyone was certain that Pam would have recovered, and the new family would go
home for a new start and a new year.
    The mist enveloped
her small body as he continued to call her name. He could hear the tiny whimper
of her crying, but he couldn't determine the exact location of the sound. The
heavy mist dripped thousands of sprinkles of invisible rain making one mass of
wetness against his lonely body.

CHAPTER SIX
    Just as Claire
suggested, we all gave Kristina time – time to grow up and time to adjust to
having a family who loved her. After our Christmas together, I didn't see Gary
or Kristina for a few months, although I kept my ears open for news of her.
    Claire told me
sometime in 1987 that Kris had gotten a job at a restaurant in New Orleans and
hoped to learn the ropes in the kitchen. She was contemplating cooking school.
She moved out of Gary's apartment and into one of her own with Gary's help
monetarily. After she moved, she called to give me her telephone number.
    "Do you like
your job?" I asked her once the pleasantries were out of the way.
    "It's OK, but I
don't see a future there," she said.
    "But your
grandmother said you hoped for a career in this area."
    "That's the
great thing about having a grandma; they believe what they want to believe. Honestly,
I'm not sure what I want to do. I never had so many choices before, so I guess
that's good. Claire and Philip would even send me to college if I showed an
interest." She sounded sincere for once. "What was it like for my father
growing up with Claire and Philip? It was so different from my childhood,
right?"
    Her question took me
by surprise. Gary had more advantages than me because of our economic
differences, but he had other things to deal with in his life.
    "That's a difficult
question, Kristina. You really want an answer?"
    "I guess I'm
curious, yes. Gary won't talk about his childhood."
    "It wasn't
always easy for Gary."
    "In what
way?"
    I thought back over
the years and remembered. I debated whether to tell Kristina one story in
particular since I’d never told anyone before. Gary and I never discussed it
after that day, but if it left a mark on me, Gary must have scars running deep
through his soul and heart over that one Sunday dinner. But maybe the story of
that day would help Kristina understand her father a little more.
    "I remember one
time. Gary and I must have been around ten. He did something stupid at the
dinner table. Both families were there, plus Aunt Susan and her husband.
    "I asked Gary to
pass the ketchup bottle. He picked it up to hand it to me, but first he
pretended like he was sucking on the top of it. It was just a kid thing,
typical of us when we were goofing off. But the Townsends didn't goof around at
the table, and I guess Gary momentarily forgot that.
    "When Uncle
Philip saw his son pretending to suck on the bottle, he said, 'Little baby,
Gary, such a cute little baby. You like that bottle so much, sit there for the
rest of the meal sucking on it.'
     "Gary had to
sit there and actually suck on the ketchup bottle while the rest of us sat in
embarrassed silence for him. Whenever Gary tried to pull the bottle down from
his mouth, his father began a tirade of verbal insults, calling him a baby, a
sissy, a little girl. It was awful. Gary began to cry and choke while still
attempting to keep the ketchup bottle in his mouth."
    "What about the
other adults at the table?” Kristina asked.
    "Claire finally
spoke up. Of course, Aunt Susan tried to intervene several times to no avail.
My father ate his roast beef as usual. My mother would never have stood up to
the great Philip Townsend. But Claire finally removed the bottle and said,
'That's