Three weeks after the bone-marrow transplant, my dad started to show a little color in his skin. He started to have an appetite. He was sitting upright when Alexis and I arrived in the room. He was starting to look like my old dad. And he started giving me lectures again. Some of the same old themes but also some additions. A lot of the old philosophy and idealism. But something else too. “Sometimes, Cody, the hardest thing you can do is let other people help you when you’re down and out,” he said. And I think I fully understood what he meant.
The day finally came when my dad was allowed to leave the hospital. I’d like to say he looked cured and healthy, but he had lost a lot of weight, and he was pale and a bit shaky as he walked. “He’ll slowly regain his strength,” the young doctor said. “But we’ve done everything we can do. He needs rest, and he needs to be home.”
It was hard to say goodbye to Alexis, but I knew I needed to be with my mom and dad. And I too wanted to be home. Except for Alexis and DeMarco, there wasn’t anything about school that I would miss. Alexis promised she’d come visit.
“How are you gonna do that?”
“I memorized your map. I’ll take the bus and then I’ll walk if I have to. I’ll call you.”
I gave her a soft, sad look and a half smile. She understood. I didn’t have a phone.
“Don’t worry. I’ll just show up.”
My dad was a bit weepy on the trip to our old homestead. It felt weird to be on our way back to a world we had left behind, one that seemed a million miles from my life in the city and going to school. I hadn’t heard a word from Ernest, but I had told my parents about him. I knew it was possible he might still be there and that we might find him drunk or maybe even dead.
But we were going home.
When we arrived, walking the final leg of our long trail through the forest, I watched my dad taking deep breaths and seemingly getting stronger with each step.
When we opened the door to the house, there was no one inside. There was no sign of Ernest, just a note on the table.
Welcome back home, Cody. Mission accomplished.
Ernest