FAMILY SECRETS

FAMILY SECRET

“Don’t rush me, Damien. Give me a minute... Just finish your soup. How is it ? “It should be the bomb. It’s New Orleans Chicken Creole.”

“ The soup sucks, Steve. Too spicy, and where’s the chicken? And don’t change the subject. I don’t understand why you can’t just come out with it. Give me a clue while you’re warming up to it. Do you realize we haven’t seen each other in 3 years? What an example of brotherly love, huh?”

“Yeah, imagine three long brother-free years. But let's not shit each other. It was three long years for good reasons. Is it really the soup you don’t like? Or is it just being in the same room with me again?”

“Steve, whatever it is that you came by to say,, give me a starting point. Give me a reason why.”

“You mean why I ordered you the Creole soup? Because we’re in New Orleans, that's why and this is the best restaurant in town!”

“No, I’m not talking about the soup. And don’t be so evasive. Tell me why you can’t tell me what this mysterious thing is! You know how much I hate secrets.”

“ It isn’t mysterious and it isn’t a secret, Damien. Well, Not Exactly, although it is about secrets. Secrets in the past. The best kind”.

“ It must be a doozy of a secret. Or you wouldn’t have that smirky I’ve-got-you-cornered look on your face. “

“Maybe I just enjoyed the soup more than you did. Look, my bowl is empty. But you were always a fussy eater as a kid.”

“Don’t make this a bigger guessing game than it needs to be, Steve. It's gotta be about family stuff. It could be dangerous for you if you aren’t above board with me.”

“Are you threatening me? Now you sound just like the old Damien. Come on, would I buy you a bowl of pricey Creole soup and pick up the tab for lunch if I were keeping something from you?”

“To throw me off the track? You, Sneaky Steve? Why not? Just like the old Steve, although chocolate lava cake would have been a better choice than soup if that was your game.”

“Oh, so are you in the mood for dessert? Why didn’t you say so? We’ve got time for that, I'm sure. I don’t’t have to be back in court until 3:00.”

“No, I’m not in the mood for dessert, I’m in the mood for disclosure, Steve. “

Ok, here's the truth. Full disclosure. I’m not really a big sweet tooth guy, but if you are….”

“Not the truth about your food choices, Steve, the truth about “it”. The reason we’re here.”

“I still want to know why you said it could be dangerous if I didn’t tell you what you want to hear. Sounds just like 10-year-old Damien shaking that baseball bat in front of my face, the one you stole from me in fifth grade.”.

“It’s not what I want to hear, but what I need to know, what you need to tell me. Mother used to keep secrets from me and from dad when I was little. She would hide things just to torment us. Little things and big things. And now you’re doing it.”

“Hey, Monica was your mother, not mine. I couldn’t have inherited a tendency to harbor sinister secrets from Monica. . You do think this is something sinister don’t you? Anyway, this is getting interesting. What kind of secrets did she hide? Unlike you, I didn’t hang around that long to be tainted by her craziness. After that time she disappeared our dog Dingle? She turned him over to the Humane Society for a laugh. That was enough for me.”

“ No, Steve, she said that was never her doing. Anyway, we did get him back. Whatever. Sure, you were old enough to leave the family. Remember that year when she gave me that bike for my 7th birthday , and then hid it the next day? It took me a week to find it. “

“ How about her telling me that you, Damien, were just a foster child and wouldn’t be living with us much longer.? Or the time, she told the principal at school that our father was a convicted killer on the run? Didn’t you tell me that? If that's true, she is worse than a liar, worse than the world’s worst mother, she could be certifiable, if you’re right, Damien. “

“That’s why it's important that you tell me what you have to say, Steve, because I think she’s missing. And I don’t think it’s one of her scary jokes this time.”

“Oh, really? You think I’m going to go looking for her? “

“What I think is that you owe her an apology, after all these years. She told me everything , Steve, how you were behind all those stunts, those lies, tall tales, secrets and disappearances. She has grown tired of shielding you, of taking the blame.”

“ And you believe that? “

“ I don’t know. You're my half-brother, but we were never close, Steve. Were you finally going to confess to the real family secret here, after all this time? The truth is that you were the black sheep in the family, not me. Is that why we're meeting? For a final accounting?”.

“First, Damien, Tell me why you said I’d be in danger if I didn’t come clean. Tell me.”

“Because mother, Monica to you, isn’t missing. She’s is coming over here to join us. To have a confrontation. Finally after all these years. To reveal this hidden family thing.”

“Is she really ? Coming over to hear me confess to all my crimes, Damien?”

“ It could be painful, Steve. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leave. Steve, I can explain everything to her. How you’ve turned your life around. “

“ Don’t be ridiculous. Why would I leave? In fact, I can’t leave. Monica is coming over to talk to you about us.”

“About you and me ?”

“ No by us, I meant me and Monica. We thought it might be time to clear the air about all these hidden things, like you say. Isn’t the big secret that it was you, Damien, not me, not Monica, behind the hidden bike, the lies at school and all the rest. Jealous, lying Damien. You can run, but you can’t hide.”

“ It’s too late to try to shift the blame, Steve. Even though I don’t have a baseball bat anymore. Wait til she gets here. “

“ Damien, now it's your chance to leave, if you like. Oh, and the secret? The secret is that you and I will be family all over again in May.”

“What do you mean, family all over again.”

“ Simple, Damien, Monica and I are getting married. Welcome to the family, stepson!”