110. Something I Should’ve Done
It’s the middle of the day on Friday when I receive a text from Kelsey.
This makes me feel a little less worried. Now, if only Mom makes it home on her last day of work. Then I’ll scratch that off the good old “To Do and To Keep Alive” list.
This little bout of ease remains short-lived, however, because someone comes barging in the door, causing me to jump up off the couch.
It’s Uncle Robert. A messy and hungover Uncle Robert.
“Where’s your mom?”
“She’s at work,” I say.
He just looks around for a moment. He’s breathing heavily like he’s been running, and I see his hands moving, balling into fists as if he’s squeezing something.
“When’s she getting back?”
“Tonight. She said maybe nine.”
Uncle Robert curses, looking around as if someone else might be in here, then he takes a note out of his back pocket and unfolds it. He tosses it on the coffee table.
“Make sure she gets that, okay?”
I nod as he bolts up the stairs and heads to my room. In a few minutes, he comes back down carrying a handgun. It’s a short, stubby black gun that I think is a Glock. I’ve seen enough of those on television to recognize it.
“Did you get that upstairs?” I ask.
I remember the gun I found but ultimately lost.
That gun could’ve come in handy.
“I had a hiding spot in the bedroom. No way you could have found it.”
“Was it in the closet?”
He only shakes his head. He stuffs the gun in the back of his pants. For a minute, he just scans the place.
“What’s going on?”
Uncle Robert sees the key belonging to the bike parked outside. His old motorcycle. He picks it up.
“Wanna know why I got that bike?” he asks, holding the keychain. “Ever see the movie The Great Escape?”
I shake my head.
“See it one day. It’s a classic. About a bunch of prisoners in World War II trying to escape a Nazi camp. It’s got Steve McQueen in it. The role was legendary.”
I suddenly remember Brick wanting to buy the bike from me and mentioning Steve McQueen.
“I got that bike when everything—when I was busy being a hero. I was trying to be like the Cooler King.”
“The what?”
He chuckles, lost in his thoughts. “Captain Virgil Hilts. Nicknamed the Cooler King. That’s the role Steve McQueen played. I wanted to be cool and reckless like him. Brave and fearless and always with a funny quip. And for a while I was. But now I know that all of that—the stuff of trying to save Heidi—it was all just one big role. I was just acting the part. Because in the end I wasn’t Hilts. I was just Robert Kinner. A man doomed because of his last name. A man who wants to escape everything in his life.”
I want to do something for this man who’s twice as old but even more terrified than I am. “Do you want me to—”
“No,” he says. “I’m fine. Everything is just—just right where it belongs.”
He laughs as if he just made a joke, and I shake my head, not understanding.
“What if all the world you used to know is an elaborate dream? Good question, huh? That’s the only Bible I’ve been reading. The only verses that make sense to me. The King Reznor Bible. Full of hopelessness and despair.”
Uncle Robert tosses the key on the table next to the note. Then he looks at me with a serious, heavy glance. “You’re a good kid, Chris. Don’t let that part of you go away. Protect it. Okay?”
He goes to the door and opens it.
“Uncle Robert?”
“Yeah.”
“Where are you going?”
He looks at me, smiles and nods, then shuts the door behind him.
It takes me about ten minutes to decide to open the letter.
Maybe it should’ve taken less time. Or maybe I shouldn’t be opening it at all. But I’m worried that Uncle Robert is going to do something stupid. Or that he’s truly running away once and for all.
I open up the letter and see his messy handwriting. It’s actually worse than mine.
Dear Tara,
I’m sorry for not being there. When we were younger and now. It’s messed with me more than you can possibly know.
I’m sorry I didn’t do more.
But I’m finally going to do something I should’ve done a long time ago.
Robert
He’s finally going to do something. But what?
I think of his gun and his comments about escaping. About playing the part. About trying to rescue Heidi.
Suddenly I realize that’s what he’s going to do.
He’s going to try and save Heidi.
No.
I swipe the key to the motorcycle in my hand and then tear open the door to get out.
Maybe I can still help.
Maybe I can make sure Uncle Robert doesn’t do something really stupid.