That Fall We Were All Missing Something
...sleeping, and that one day I would see him again. I remember not knowing what they meant, and asking myself, how could someone sleep so long, and why did they have to leave the family? I started to think that my grandfather was selfish but I soon learned that although he died, his death brought us closer together. Well that was until the following fall, having just started a new semester at school my brothers and I were ready for a break. So as always we prepared to go the fair. We weren’t the only ones though; going to the fair to us became an extended family event. It included my brothers and I, my parents, cousins, uncles and aunts. My favorite though was my uncle Demetrius, to me he played the part of the person who held our family captive, somewhat like a comedian to an audience. It seemed like whatever he did we were always waiting in the shadows to see what was next. I looked up to him, I think all the kids did, even though he was our older uncle we all felt as if he was one of us. Besides us, I think my mother connected to him the most, even though she was the older sister, I saw them as being inseparable because of how close their ages were together. We were all close, and usually in the fall season we became even closer. But somehow, that all changed this year, starting with a phone call. That morning I remember waking up knowing that tomorrow was going to be “fair day”, so like always I called my uncle Skeeboo to see what time he wanted us to meet up to leave. The phone rang and rang and rang but there was no answer, I can’t remember how many times I called but it felt like a gazillion. I decided I was going to call one more time, and luckily someone picked up, but it wasn’t my uncle. The person on the other end picked up the phone sounding kind of weird, at first I thought I dialed the wrong number because the guy sounded very squeaky almost as if he was playing on the phone and acting very hesitant. So I continued and said, “Um Is my uncle there?” he stumbled and replied, “he... he...he’s in the bathroom”. Before I could respond the phone clicked in my ear. I hung up and ran in the other room where my mom was, I told her what happened and I was not able to talk to my uncle, in return she snapped back in an uneasy tone, “me neither”. A couple of hours later my parents called my brothers and me into their room, I wasn’t worried at first, my mind couldn’t even have contemplated what they were going to tell us. As we stood there impatiently like most kids do waiting for their response, I saw the held together tears in mothers’ eyes looking as if, if she...