He's That Summer Breeze

Suppressed Memory, Surprise Kiss

It was the afternoon of the day of the annual Country Festival here in Nowhere in Particular, and the little town was busy working like a hive. Uncle Hank had taken Zach to do some heavy lifting of tables and lighting this morning and have been gone since, while I was searching through Uncle Hank's closet and dresser drawers, trying to find him something decent to wear for once.

The man was in his 50's and hadn't been on a date in who knows how long, and maybe tonight would be the perfect time to find himself a pretty lady. I just pray that the woman can handle my loud Uncle and love him as much as the rest of us.

Every article of clothing he owned was either old flannels, plaid button ups for "special occasions", old concert t-shirts from his college days, worn out jeans, and an old, dusty suit he would wear for weddings. While reaching up to the higher shelves to see what other things he might own, I accidentally caused several cardboard boxes to fall off the shelves and onto the floor making a loud noise thankfully only I would hear.

I cursed under my breath as I climbed my way back down the shelves and onto the floor to pick up the mess I had made. Dust flew up into the air all around the boxes causing me to cough. After I had gotten over my coughing fit, I began shifting through the contents of the boxes that had spilled onto the floor, noticing his old yearbooks, photo albums, and a framed picture that made my heart skip a beat as soon as I saw it.

In the frame was an old photograph of me when I was probably around 5 or 6, giving a cheesy smile while sitting on the leg of my father. My young, green eyed, smiling father. In the picture his hair was still the dark brown it was before he got gray and there were no glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose.

His smile was so big as he held me in his arms, that it made my heart hurt.

I stared at the picture for a good 10 minutes before I set it aside and picked up the mess I had caused in the first place. Tears threatened to break free from my eyes but I did my best not to let them because today I was determined not to cry. Today I wasn't going to be the annoying mess that I have been this whole entire summer.

Frustratingly, this was the day I actually found something worth crying over.

I put the picture frame back in the box... Probably things Uncle Hank didn't want the memories of, or thought maybe if I saw them it would upset me. Who knows. I set the box in a corner of the closet while I continued to sift through old things, trying to get my mind off the picture. Then I remembered what my mom had said during our phone call not too long ago.

My Father's birthday was soon. She told me I should visit him, but I don't know what to do about it. I haven't seen him in over a year...

I've tried to do all I can to move on with my life and all things that remind me of the bad stuff.

But here I am in the middle of my Uncle's closet surrounded by musty old clothes and forgotten memories trying to forget the past.

I push myself up off the floor and brush off the dust that had collected on my pants from the wood floor. I pick up the box and set it up back on top of the shelf where I found it, but remove the framed picture before doing so. I clean up the mess I had made and grab some clothes for Uncle Hank.

I walk over to his bed and lay out a non-wrinkled plaid button up and his newest looking pair of jeans I could find. I knew he would look nice tonight if he wore this, and I hoped someone would notice.

I looked back over at the picture frame I had taken earlier from the box that I had set down on the bed. I smile to myself and walk back to my room with it. I sit down on my bed, holding the picture to my chest. It almost was like I could hug him. If I thought hard enough I could smell his old cologne my mom bought him once for his birthday. It had been too long since.