The Summer Home

17. Forgive And Forget

     Peter was just stepping out of the shower when he heard the door slam downstairs, which he found rather odd. He was under the impression that Sonya took the kids to the park for the afternoon, and that he had all the time he needed to shower, clean up, and get some writing done before they get home. Peter was about to believe it was the wind, but then he heard a voice call from the main floor. It was Nathan who had been dropped off by Ray a lot earlier than expected. Peter didn't have much time, so he dried himself off and put his boxers and a robe on. He then quickly fitted his wig the way he was taught by the people who made it for him. Peter took his time slowly walked out of the main bedroom and down the hall to the stairs. As he gingerly descended the staircase, he could see Nathan down there waiting for him.

     "What are you doing back so early?" Peter called out to him from the stairs, "I could have sworn you still had a debt to pay to the people of this fine town."

     "Ray gave me the day off," Nathan replied, "He thought it would be better to spend the better part of the morning putting me in my place and then give me the afternoon to mull over it."

     "That sounds like Ray," Peter said, as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

     "From what I was told this morning," Nathan continued, "I was badly in need of corrections to what I thought was the whole story."

     "The whole story is often hard to find." Peter said, as he took the last few steps rather slowly. "Every person you know has secrets, so it's difficult to have the whole story when various pieces are always missing."

     "I got more that a few pieces today," Nathan informed him. "Ray told me everything, using the truth like a club to beat it into my thick skull."

     Upon hearing that Peter let out a small laugh that was stopped short by a slight discomfort. He took a deep breath and grabbed the couch as if he needed to do it in order to prevent himself from falling over.

     "He told you everything?" Peter repeated, curious to what he meant.

     "He told me you paid a small fortune for that rug on your head." Nathan replied with a crude smile.

     The only thing Peter could do in response to that snide remark was unclasp that 'rug' from his head and tossed it onto the couch to reveal the hairless dome above his eyebrows that he had been hiding for quite some time.

     "I present evidence to why you should never get a buzz cut," Peter said, "We have really ugly skulls."

     Nathan couldn't help but laugh at his father's comment, for it was partially true.

     "It's not that bad," Nathan said, trying to be polite, "It even kinda looks cool in a Lex Luthor-ish kind of way."

     "Thank you very much." Peter said, aware that his son was using humor to combat the shock of what he was seeing. Peter was just relieved to see that his son was taking the reveal rather well. Sonya had cried for days when his hair first fell out, to the point where she had to call in sick because it was too much for her to handle. She was so afraid that her husband was going to die and that petrified her. She was so afraid that her husband was going to die.

     "I would really appreciate it," Peter continued, "If we kept these details to ourselves... at least for the time being."

     "Why?" Nathan asked, "What exactly are you waiting for?"

     "Test results," Peter answered, "We are going to find out very soon whether the latest round of treatment worked or not."

"Define or not?" Nathan asked.