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need to beat up some boyfriends during this visit. He smiled at the thought. He always wished he and Judy could be closer. Maybe he could make some inroads toward that goal on this visit. He and Annie had also drifted somewhat apart through the years. He wasn’t as up-to-date as he should be on her children or her home.
    The whole family was there, except for James Malone. That stubborn old goat, as Michael’s mother frequently called him, still hadn’t forgiven Michael. But that’s not why he wasn’t there. It wasn’t a choice James had made. Although Michael wondered if his father would be here to greet him if the circumstances were different. Now, he would never know.
    “Mom! Jonah, Annie, Judy, I’m glad to be here.” Michael hugged his teary-eyed mother.
    She was short, with graying hair, and the same pale blue eyes that Jonah, Michael, and Judy all had. She had a few more wrinkles than the last time Michael saw her, which was just last November, for his birthday. She seemed to have aged beyond her fifty-four years. It had been a tough year for her with all that had happened to Michael’s father.
    “Come on in, Mikey, glad you’re here. I only wish you could have seen him before it happened.” Marty let out a cry and held Michael tighter.
    Judy Malone touched her brother’s shoulder and said, “Good to see you, bro,” Then she looked to her mother. “Mom, why don’t we all go inside.”
    Judy had a quiet maturity about her that was simultaneously comforting and disturbing. Having someone so young seem so together could be disarming. She steered them into the kitchen. It looked the same. Linoleum floors with a strange black octagon and white square pattern, oak cabinets with cast-iron pulls and 1970’s ‘modern’ olive green appliances. The best part of the room, the large country farm table with faded red legs, was still there, and the picnic bench seat—perfect for numerous children to hang out on—was there, too. Michael, Annie, and Jesse had sat there all the time while growing up. It was there that they did their homework together, played Monopoly, shared after-school snacks, and just talked. He also remembered Jonah and Judy coloring and doing their art projects there when they were small children.
    Michael remembered the time Jesse and he had carved their initials into the table top with their Dad’s Swiss Army knife and they gotten so many lashes that their bottoms matched the table legs. He smiled at the memory. James Malone wasn’t a violent man, but when they were small, he hadn’t shied away from disciplining his children. Michael had been just eight years old at the time and Jesse twelve.
    “Jesse.” Michael sighed. Michael hadn’t thought about Jesse and the night he died in a long time. The football team had just won the state championship so Jesse got to go to all of the victory parties and took Michael along with him. There was a lot of beer at the parties, and drugs. Jesse wasn’t a big drinker… but that night he was drinking... he was drinking a lot. Michael had never seen anything like it. For the first time in his life, Jesse had decided to cut loose. He took shots, drank from a funnel, danced, and sang at the top of his lungs. Then the cops came and Jesse had to get out of there, and he and his girlfriend Jen headed for the car. Jen’s little sister Beth had tried to convince both Jesse and Jen not to drive. Jen told Beth to back off and she got in the car. Just a few miles from the party, they ran into a tree. The car flipped over and neither survived.
    Michael shook his head and looked beyond the kitchen into the dining room. He struggled with the memories of Jesse and that day with his dad over and over again in his head. Sometimes he wished he’d done it differently. Other times he wished his Dad hadn’t been such a stubborn jerk. He couldn’t change the past, but he was hoping there would still be time to change the future.
    Michael walked towards the dining