That night, the nightmares came back; but this time they weren’t about Devon. They were about his birth father. None of the images made sense to him, but he knew instinctively that the man he was seeing was his sperm donor. He came awake covered in sweat not only from the dry heat of the Colorado night, but from the intensity of what he was seeing. He got up and padded down the hall quietly to wash up, then went back to his room. Instead of lying back in bed, he grabbed his acoustic guitar and went out on to the back patio. He’d noticed that when his Dad was having particularly sleepless nights he’d sit out there with a note pad and CD player, listening to whatever new music Uncle Danny had just sent. When he slid the door open, he silently thanked whatever God was up there that he was the only one awake at the time. He closed his eyes and listened quietly. Just a little over the sound of the crickets and other nocturnal creatures that were out, Malachai could hear the soft noises of his mother and there was no doubt in his mind what his parents were doing. Dad’s loving on Mom. Why isn’t THAT surprising?, he thought to himself as sat down at patio table. He was tired, true, but whatever it was that he was dreaming wasn’t letting him sleep. So, there he sat, staring at the light reflecting off of the water in the pool that his mother had insisted on having for not only the entertainment of the children but for her massages as well. He actually laughed when his father pulled out his check book and told his mother not to spend it all in one place after putting the book in her hand. She laughed as well and said, “You know I will, so why hand me the check book?”
“Because you know that you really CAN’T spend it ALL in one place”, was his father’s joking response.
Malachai sat outside under the light of the full moon and started toying with a few melodies that had been floating around in his head. He tried to keep the volume down as he sat and played. It wasn’t an easy task, but he managed to keep his parents from poking their heads out the window and telling him to keep the noise down. Thankfully, the melody he was playing with sounded better on the acoustic rather than the electric. He was afraid it wouldn’t have.
After what seemed like hours, he finally felt like he could go back to sleep. He just hoped that he didn’t have the dreams again.
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The morning came a little too quickly for him. He hadn’t slept a peaceful wink, and still he had to get up and eat breakfast with his family. He drug himself downstairs and tried not to nod off into his plate. “Malachai, what’s the matter, son?” his mother asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing, Mom, promise. I’m fine.”
“Aaron, you can try to pass that lie by your friends but you can’t lie to me or your father. We can both see that something’s bothering you.”
“It’s not really something I want to talk about in front of my younger siblings.”
“Then you, your mother, and I can discuss it after breakfast in private”, his father said.
“Yes, sir”, Malachai responded.
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After his brothers and sisters were finished with their breakfast, his parents ran them out of the Kitchen by telling them to go play.
David looked at his oldest son. “What kept you up last night, Malachai?”
“More fucking nightmares.”
“Of what?” Brie asked.
“I’m not quite sure. All I could tell was that the man in my dream was my birth father.”
“How could you tell?” David asked.
“I really couldn’t. I just knew it instinctively.”
David, who wasn’t wearing his piercings under his lip, brought a hand up and started pulling at the graying goatee under his bottom lip. “Seems to me that our conversation from the other day has started eating at you, Malachai.”
Brie looked at her husband in puzzlement. “What conversation?”
“I told Dad that I was thinking about looking for my birth father”, Malachai answered.
Brie nodded. “Is that what you feel like you need to do, son?”
“I think so, Mom. I mean, I can’t help but feel like he cheated me the first five years of my life. He SHOULD have been there, but he wasn’t. I want to know WHY.”
She nodded again. “I could have your Uncle John do some snooping for you based on what little information I have on him so that you don’t have to chase him all over the country.” She fought not to speak ill of Jason Iverson in front of her oldest son. It was a very difficult task to say the least.
“If you don’t mind, Mom. I think I need to go find him and get some answers. You can’t answer these questions for me, neither can Dad.”
“I understand, son. I’ll call John this afternoon and have him do that for you. Once he gets back to me, I’ll let you know what he finds.”
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