Lead Me Home, Numb3rs, Part 12/84
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Part 11
Colby wasn’t sure what woke him the next morning. The sunlight coming in the window told him his alarm wouldn’t go off for another ten minutes. The house seemed quiet so it wasn’t his family making noise in the hallway or anything.
Suddenly, a small tennis shoe appeared in front of his face.
Colby jerked back and looked to his left. Josh and Jamie sat on the edge of his bed grinning from ear to ear. “Lesson time?”
Colby groaned and relaxed against the pillows. “Give Uncle Colby a few more minutes.”
“No sen waitin’ daylay.”
His tried brain took three attempts before he finally deciphered the comment. No sense wasting daylight.
“You’re right. Up and at them. But how about breakfast before lessons?”
“Otay.”
The two boys jumped off the bed and padded down the hall to the stairs. Colby briefly thought about grabbing a few more minutes of sleep, but he did have a shoe tying lesson to teach.
Colby pulled a pair of FBI sweatpants out of his bag and slid them on over his boxers. An FBI T-shirt made the rest of his outfit. He hurried downstairs after his nephews.
Josh and Jamie were seated at the table while his mom was slicing bananas for their cereal.
“Hey, Mom, need help?”
She shook her head and handed him a bowl before setting one in front of each boy. “No, you eat. You’ve got to play teacher later.”
“Yeah.”
Marie grabbed her own bowl and sat down next to Colby. The four were quiet as they ate their cereal. It was quite different from the chat-filled dinner from the night before.
“So what’s up for today?”
“Emily, Sarah, and I are doing some cooking this morning to get ready for tomorrow. Then Jason and Sarah are taking the boys into town to see her folks.”
“So we’ll meet them at church after dinner.”
“If you want to, yes. But I’ll be staying here.”
“What? Mom, it’s Christmas Eve. Why wouldn’t you-?”
Marie gave a pointed looked at the boys and then smiled. “I just no longer attend that church, Colby.”
“You… You and Dad were married in that church. We were all christened there. What the he..heck happened?”
“Life happened.”
“Bullsh-”
Colby grabbed his mother’s arm and pulled her into the hallway. Luckily, Emily was coming downstairs. “Hey, Em, the boys are in the kitchen. Can you keep an eye on them for a second?”
“Sure, Colb.”
Colby led his mother into the living room and parked her in front of the Christmas tree. “This room would not look like this if you didn’t believe in Christmas. So explain to me why you don’t want to go to Christmas Eve service.”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about, Colby. I am a grown woman after all.”
“Is it Richard?”
“What? Why?”
Colby rubbed the back of his neck. “You know… living in sin.”
Marie actually laughed. “Oh, I’d forgotten how cute you are. It’s so like your father.”
“Mom. Come on. Talk to me about this.”
Sitting up straighter, she nodded. “It’s about loyalty, Colby. I was loyal to that church for decades and they have not been loyal to this family.”
“What happened?”
“When you were arrested, it made the newspaper here. Sarah tried to keep out of the press but…”
“It’s okay, Mom. When I was exonerated, it was in the paper, too. Tony sent me the online article.”
She smiled. “Yes, but for those five weeks…”
“Someone said something to you.”
“No, no one said anything to my face, but five sermons on lies and deceit was enough for me.”
“Mom, I’m sure after-”
A shake of her head stopped him. “No. After your heroism was exposed, was there a sermon on bravery or honest mistakes or any of that? No. It was as if nothing had happened. All those people who had looked down their noses at me suddenly could be seen in public with me again as if they weren’t the biggest hypocrites on the planet.”
Colby closed his eyes for a moment before moving to sit next to his mom. “I’m sorry I put you through that.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“I did a lot of things wrong, Mom, and you paid for it just as much as I did. But you shouldn’t have to keep paying for it. I know you have to miss the church. I mean look at this place; it’s a Christmas wonderland. I want to go Christmas Eve service with you, Mom,” he reached out and took her hands in his. “Just like we did when I was a kid, before Dad died. The early dinner, service, the walk through town to look at lights, then home for hot chocolate and anniversary cake before bed. Well, we can skip the cake if you want, but there’s something about that tradition, that I need this year.”
“Colby…”
“And I think you need it too. It’s Christmas. It’s the season of miracles. Give this town the miracle of your forgiveness.”
Marie looked down at their joined hands and nodded. “Well, I’d better let everyone know about the change in plans and get started on that cake.”
Colby laughed and hugged her. “Thanks, Mom.”
“No, thank you, Colby.”
He nodded and they stood and headed back for the kitchen. Colby was only two steps through the swinging door when he was attacked at the knees by two rockets.
“Unka Koba, laces time?”
“Yep. Come on, little man.”
“Me ‘atch?”
“Sure, buddy.”
They headed for the den where Colby took Jamie on his lap and Josh scooted up beside them. He carefully placed Jamie’s shoe on his knee and began tying and retying the shoe. Each time he explained every move he made. After about ten minutes, he let Jamie have a try.
“Cross the laces, pull one under and back out, pull both laces tight,” he coached Jamie through the knot. “Now make a loop with one of the laces. Wrap the other lace around the loop and your thumb. Then pull that same lace through the hole where your thumb was. Then pull both loops tight.”
Jamie’s loops had been too big and he just pulled both loops out into a double knot.
“That’s okay. You gave it a good try. Try it again with smaller loops.”
Again Colby spoke him though the steps, but this time his loops were too small for his still chubby baby fingers to manipulate and it fell apart before he was completely done.
“Okay, so your loop needs to be somewhere in between. Keep trying.”
After a few more tries, Jamie had the verbal steps down even if he didn’t have the physical. Colby leaned back and drifted to the almost chant-like sound of the directions being repeated over and over.
“I did it! It stayed!”
Colby raised his head and looked at the shoe Jamie was holding up. The laces were indeed tied. The bow was lop-sided and a little loose but not bad for a first time.
“Good job. Let’s do it a few more times to make sure you’ve got it and then we’ll go show your mom and Grandma.”
“Otay.”
As Jamie turned back to his tying, Colby looked down at Josh. The younger boy had fallen asleep curled up by his side, thumb in his mouth but not being sucked on. A wave of tenderness rushed through Colby and he couldn’t help but wonder if this was what parents felt for their children. No wonder the bond was so strong. No wonder his mom had been trying to protect him from the assholes in town.
“Got it!”
Colby looked down to see a much neater bow on the shoe Jamie was holding up. “You do. Okay, let’s go show Mom and Grandma.”
Jamie jumped down and headed for the door. Colby carefully scooped Josh onto his shoulder so the boy could sleep on. Then he followed a little bit more sedately.
Everyone in the kitchen was duly impressed, well not Josh, but he was napping. Jamie did a happy dance in the middle of room. “I can’t wait to show Granpa and Granny.”
“How about showing Daddy? He’ll be in soon.”
“Uh huh. Now he won’t tie my laces wrong, cuz I gonna do it.”
Colby laughed and ruffled his hair. “That’s right, little man.”
“Unka Koba, will you come color with me?”
A little startled by the change in subject, Colby nodded. “Sure.”
He looked at Sarah who had her hands deep in the dough for pie crusts. His mom and Emily were both equally occupied. “I’ll just run Josh upstairs and-”
“He can sleep on the couch in the den if you two don’t mind his snores.”
Colby shook his head as he thought of the little snuffling noises Josh had made. “Then it’s back to the den with us.”
Soon the three boys were settled in the den. Josh was laying on the couch with Colby sitting in front of him so he didn’t roll off and hurt himself. Jamie sat on the other side of the coffee table with a big box of crayons and two coloring books on the table between them.
“You ‘ant Batman or Supaman?”
“The caped crusader, definitely.”
“Huh?”
“Batman.”
“Good.” Josh pushed the book towards Colby. “Supaman my favorite.”
Colby nodded and started working on his picture. It had been a long time since he’d done anything so mindless and simple.
“Unka Koba, you gots to stays in da lines.”
Colby had barely noticed that he had in fact gotten outside of the lines. “No, I don’t. I’m just gonna color both parts the same color.”
Jamie frowned then nodded. “Okay. But next time be mo’ careful.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jamie nodded again, missing the sarcasm completely. Colby was cool with that. After all, besides Josh, who did Jamie really get to tell what to do?
“So you’ve started school?”
Jamie nodded. “Kiddie garden,” he said sagely.
“Do you have lots of friends at school?”
“No.”
“No? Why not?”
Jamie shrugged and picked up a new crayon. “Not need lots, just good ‘uns.”
Colby nodded. “So you have some good friends?”
“Two. Bobby and Joe.”
Humming, he encouraged Jamie to tell him more. Boy! Did the boy talk. Colby soon knew the entire history of their four-month-old friendship. Bobby was definitely the ring-leader and reminded Colby a bit of himself. Joe sounded a lot like Tony as a boy.
Jamie was halfway through the story of how they’d gotten in trouble with the school nurse earlier in the week when Jason stuck his head into the den.
“What’s this I hear about someone tying his own shoes?”
“Daddy! Unka Koba taught me… Wanna see?”
“I sure do.”
Colby sat back against the couch and watched as Jason poured out the right amount of affection and wonderment. He was glad to see it.
Josh rolled over and tipped his head over Colby’s shoulder. “Me cola’ too?” came the sleepy voice.
“Sure, buddy.” Colby reached up and flipped Josh into his lap. The boy giggled before grabbing a red crayon and drawing swirls all over the carefully colored Batman and Robin.
Colby realized how lucky he was to be able to bond with his nephews. Josh just soaked up attention and gave as good as he got. Teaching Jamie to tie his shoes had been the height of uncledom. His brother was a special man for letting Colby take part in this milestone in Jamie’s life.
Colby was blessed to have the family he did. He was glad to be home.
Next
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10
Part 11
Colby wasn’t sure what woke him the next morning. The sunlight coming in the window told him his alarm wouldn’t go off for another ten minutes. The house seemed quiet so it wasn’t his family making noise in the hallway or anything.
Suddenly, a small tennis shoe appeared in front of his face.
Colby jerked back and looked to his left. Josh and Jamie sat on the edge of his bed grinning from ear to ear. “Lesson time?”
Colby groaned and relaxed against the pillows. “Give Uncle Colby a few more minutes.”
“No sen waitin’ daylay.”
His tried brain took three attempts before he finally deciphered the comment. No sense wasting daylight.
“You’re right. Up and at them. But how about breakfast before lessons?”
“Otay.”
The two boys jumped off the bed and padded down the hall to the stairs. Colby briefly thought about grabbing a few more minutes of sleep, but he did have a shoe tying lesson to teach.
Colby pulled a pair of FBI sweatpants out of his bag and slid them on over his boxers. An FBI T-shirt made the rest of his outfit. He hurried downstairs after his nephews.
Josh and Jamie were seated at the table while his mom was slicing bananas for their cereal.
“Hey, Mom, need help?”
She shook her head and handed him a bowl before setting one in front of each boy. “No, you eat. You’ve got to play teacher later.”
“Yeah.”
Marie grabbed her own bowl and sat down next to Colby. The four were quiet as they ate their cereal. It was quite different from the chat-filled dinner from the night before.
“So what’s up for today?”
“Emily, Sarah, and I are doing some cooking this morning to get ready for tomorrow. Then Jason and Sarah are taking the boys into town to see her folks.”
“So we’ll meet them at church after dinner.”
“If you want to, yes. But I’ll be staying here.”
“What? Mom, it’s Christmas Eve. Why wouldn’t you-?”
Marie gave a pointed looked at the boys and then smiled. “I just no longer attend that church, Colby.”
“You… You and Dad were married in that church. We were all christened there. What the he..heck happened?”
“Life happened.”
“Bullsh-”
Colby grabbed his mother’s arm and pulled her into the hallway. Luckily, Emily was coming downstairs. “Hey, Em, the boys are in the kitchen. Can you keep an eye on them for a second?”
“Sure, Colb.”
Colby led his mother into the living room and parked her in front of the Christmas tree. “This room would not look like this if you didn’t believe in Christmas. So explain to me why you don’t want to go to Christmas Eve service.”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about, Colby. I am a grown woman after all.”
“Is it Richard?”
“What? Why?”
Colby rubbed the back of his neck. “You know… living in sin.”
Marie actually laughed. “Oh, I’d forgotten how cute you are. It’s so like your father.”
“Mom. Come on. Talk to me about this.”
Sitting up straighter, she nodded. “It’s about loyalty, Colby. I was loyal to that church for decades and they have not been loyal to this family.”
“What happened?”
“When you were arrested, it made the newspaper here. Sarah tried to keep out of the press but…”
“It’s okay, Mom. When I was exonerated, it was in the paper, too. Tony sent me the online article.”
She smiled. “Yes, but for those five weeks…”
“Someone said something to you.”
“No, no one said anything to my face, but five sermons on lies and deceit was enough for me.”
“Mom, I’m sure after-”
A shake of her head stopped him. “No. After your heroism was exposed, was there a sermon on bravery or honest mistakes or any of that? No. It was as if nothing had happened. All those people who had looked down their noses at me suddenly could be seen in public with me again as if they weren’t the biggest hypocrites on the planet.”
Colby closed his eyes for a moment before moving to sit next to his mom. “I’m sorry I put you through that.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“I did a lot of things wrong, Mom, and you paid for it just as much as I did. But you shouldn’t have to keep paying for it. I know you have to miss the church. I mean look at this place; it’s a Christmas wonderland. I want to go Christmas Eve service with you, Mom,” he reached out and took her hands in his. “Just like we did when I was a kid, before Dad died. The early dinner, service, the walk through town to look at lights, then home for hot chocolate and anniversary cake before bed. Well, we can skip the cake if you want, but there’s something about that tradition, that I need this year.”
“Colby…”
“And I think you need it too. It’s Christmas. It’s the season of miracles. Give this town the miracle of your forgiveness.”
Marie looked down at their joined hands and nodded. “Well, I’d better let everyone know about the change in plans and get started on that cake.”
Colby laughed and hugged her. “Thanks, Mom.”
“No, thank you, Colby.”
He nodded and they stood and headed back for the kitchen. Colby was only two steps through the swinging door when he was attacked at the knees by two rockets.
“Unka Koba, laces time?”
“Yep. Come on, little man.”
“Me ‘atch?”
“Sure, buddy.”
They headed for the den where Colby took Jamie on his lap and Josh scooted up beside them. He carefully placed Jamie’s shoe on his knee and began tying and retying the shoe. Each time he explained every move he made. After about ten minutes, he let Jamie have a try.
“Cross the laces, pull one under and back out, pull both laces tight,” he coached Jamie through the knot. “Now make a loop with one of the laces. Wrap the other lace around the loop and your thumb. Then pull that same lace through the hole where your thumb was. Then pull both loops tight.”
Jamie’s loops had been too big and he just pulled both loops out into a double knot.
“That’s okay. You gave it a good try. Try it again with smaller loops.”
Again Colby spoke him though the steps, but this time his loops were too small for his still chubby baby fingers to manipulate and it fell apart before he was completely done.
“Okay, so your loop needs to be somewhere in between. Keep trying.”
After a few more tries, Jamie had the verbal steps down even if he didn’t have the physical. Colby leaned back and drifted to the almost chant-like sound of the directions being repeated over and over.
“I did it! It stayed!”
Colby raised his head and looked at the shoe Jamie was holding up. The laces were indeed tied. The bow was lop-sided and a little loose but not bad for a first time.
“Good job. Let’s do it a few more times to make sure you’ve got it and then we’ll go show your mom and Grandma.”
“Otay.”
As Jamie turned back to his tying, Colby looked down at Josh. The younger boy had fallen asleep curled up by his side, thumb in his mouth but not being sucked on. A wave of tenderness rushed through Colby and he couldn’t help but wonder if this was what parents felt for their children. No wonder the bond was so strong. No wonder his mom had been trying to protect him from the assholes in town.
“Got it!”
Colby looked down to see a much neater bow on the shoe Jamie was holding up. “You do. Okay, let’s go show Mom and Grandma.”
Jamie jumped down and headed for the door. Colby carefully scooped Josh onto his shoulder so the boy could sleep on. Then he followed a little bit more sedately.
Everyone in the kitchen was duly impressed, well not Josh, but he was napping. Jamie did a happy dance in the middle of room. “I can’t wait to show Granpa and Granny.”
“How about showing Daddy? He’ll be in soon.”
“Uh huh. Now he won’t tie my laces wrong, cuz I gonna do it.”
Colby laughed and ruffled his hair. “That’s right, little man.”
“Unka Koba, will you come color with me?”
A little startled by the change in subject, Colby nodded. “Sure.”
He looked at Sarah who had her hands deep in the dough for pie crusts. His mom and Emily were both equally occupied. “I’ll just run Josh upstairs and-”
“He can sleep on the couch in the den if you two don’t mind his snores.”
Colby shook his head as he thought of the little snuffling noises Josh had made. “Then it’s back to the den with us.”
Soon the three boys were settled in the den. Josh was laying on the couch with Colby sitting in front of him so he didn’t roll off and hurt himself. Jamie sat on the other side of the coffee table with a big box of crayons and two coloring books on the table between them.
“You ‘ant Batman or Supaman?”
“The caped crusader, definitely.”
“Huh?”
“Batman.”
“Good.” Josh pushed the book towards Colby. “Supaman my favorite.”
Colby nodded and started working on his picture. It had been a long time since he’d done anything so mindless and simple.
“Unka Koba, you gots to stays in da lines.”
Colby had barely noticed that he had in fact gotten outside of the lines. “No, I don’t. I’m just gonna color both parts the same color.”
Jamie frowned then nodded. “Okay. But next time be mo’ careful.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jamie nodded again, missing the sarcasm completely. Colby was cool with that. After all, besides Josh, who did Jamie really get to tell what to do?
“So you’ve started school?”
Jamie nodded. “Kiddie garden,” he said sagely.
“Do you have lots of friends at school?”
“No.”
“No? Why not?”
Jamie shrugged and picked up a new crayon. “Not need lots, just good ‘uns.”
Colby nodded. “So you have some good friends?”
“Two. Bobby and Joe.”
Humming, he encouraged Jamie to tell him more. Boy! Did the boy talk. Colby soon knew the entire history of their four-month-old friendship. Bobby was definitely the ring-leader and reminded Colby a bit of himself. Joe sounded a lot like Tony as a boy.
Jamie was halfway through the story of how they’d gotten in trouble with the school nurse earlier in the week when Jason stuck his head into the den.
“What’s this I hear about someone tying his own shoes?”
“Daddy! Unka Koba taught me… Wanna see?”
“I sure do.”
Colby sat back against the couch and watched as Jason poured out the right amount of affection and wonderment. He was glad to see it.
Josh rolled over and tipped his head over Colby’s shoulder. “Me cola’ too?” came the sleepy voice.
“Sure, buddy.” Colby reached up and flipped Josh into his lap. The boy giggled before grabbing a red crayon and drawing swirls all over the carefully colored Batman and Robin.
Colby realized how lucky he was to be able to bond with his nephews. Josh just soaked up attention and gave as good as he got. Teaching Jamie to tie his shoes had been the height of uncledom. His brother was a special man for letting Colby take part in this milestone in Jamie’s life.
Colby was blessed to have the family he did. He was glad to be home.
Next