As a child the yearly visits to his grandparents in the summer were Richard Grahms' only solace; still at an age where one would, or even more so should, be engulfed in the wondrous things in life, he found himself irrevocably drowning in an increasingly fading existence. The house in which the boy grew up in mirrored its occupants with stunning accuracy in the way that everything, anything, and indeed anyone, was polished clean of vibrancy. Not even a hardboiled comedian would've found joy in turning them into a joke upon reflecting the sad image of young Richard sitting alone in the middle of his immaculately kept and stripped bedroom while taking a break from practicing the piano. Dressed and groomed like a Russian doll, quietly holding a collectors' toy car still in its box, there's a soft sorrowful look on his face. Sunlight is desperately clawing through the half-closed window sills as if trying to inject some semblance of warmth into his life. But nothing besides his Grandpa Don’s infectiously genuine laughter and Grandma Elsie’s exuberant embraces could chase away the cling film of suffocating dullness wrapped around Richard.
*****
Nigh on bohemic Grandpa Don and liberated Grandma Diana were indeed the absolute opposites of their son Harold and his wife Rebecca, a factor that drove a finite wedge between father and son in the latter's teenage years. Disapproving of his parents’ nonchalant attitude towards their own wealth and tired of their disdain towards following the proper protocol, an exasperated Harold left the Grahms' household in Montana for good when he went to college in New York to study economics. It was the first day of his second year, during an after hours conference with a New York based financial company scouting future recruits, that his composure was momentarily shaken when he met the eyes of icy beauty Rebecca Glass. Wasting no time to examine the possibility of befriending the evidently intelligent and refined woman he approached her after the meeting was over and proposed a coffee date. She requested a day to review his request and, having researched and carefully analyzed the potential of the dashing young man, Rebecca granted him permission to take her out the upcoming Friday. More dates followed and after a year of socializing they came to the matter of fact decision that their compatibility and secured careers lent itself very well to marriage.
The better part of their remaining schooling was spent on preparing the event with the bride’s parents. Harold's parents were notified of the proceedings but never given an invite as both sides came to the agreement it would be for the best. 6 months past graduation they had a quiet nondenominational ceremony, with only Rebecca's immediate family as witnesses, followed by a lavish banquet at the Hilton where a few close friends from school and a small circle of important acquaintances of the Glass's celebrated the union. In the years that followed the couple climbed steadily up the corporate ladder and established themselves in the New York socialite pond. When Harold was offered a seat in the company’s board along with a substantial pay raise, Rebecca calculated that if she were to resign it would still be possible to live very comfortable on his salary alone. And since a lot of her female friends had begun breeding, as she called it, it looked like the next step in their lives would be to expand the family.
A few weeks short of Rebecca's 34th birthday a pregnancy test revealed, and was confirmed by her OBGYN, that she was expecting her first child. Three months later a moving company packed up everything in the luxurious roof top apartment on Manhattan and transported it to a four bedroom home in Southampton. A handful of staff were hired to take care of gardening, cooking, cleaning and a nanny was on standby to take care of the baby when it arrived. Rebecca settled into life as expecting parents much like brokers waiting for the stock market to open. Where others would rejoice every day over new pregnancy experiences and get lost in decorating or buying things for their baby, she'd spend whatever time was over after keeping up with a buzzing social life on ticking off boxes from an extensive list of things to sort out before the birth. Kindergarten, pre school, primary and secondary school, college; private, public or boarding school; extracurricular activities, children to befriend... Heaven forbid the baby decided to rush into the world before her scheduled c-section.
*****
When they parted Don would always say "See you when you see me, pal". Devastating as Richard found it to return home that first summer with no promise that their quest would continue where they left off the next time summer rolled by, he bravely held on tight to the lingering smells and sights that temporarily cleansed him from the washed out life he endured. Though his trials only really begun when his parents noted minor unwanted changes in their prized child's behavior the following days after returning from his second visit to the grandparents. Stains on clothes, less desirable neighborhood kids frequently asking if "Rich wanted to hang out", missed piano practices; the list of escalating offenses grew for each passing day. And the boy around whom all these worrisome events were building showed signs of breaking out from the mold they had meticulously cast for him.
Richard, however, remained blissfully unaware of his parents' growing turmoil as well as their intensified supervision; as a 7 year old boy he was not conscious enough to fully grasp how there suddenly was a newfound ease in living or sense his world expanding in a new direction that filled his immediate surrounding with fright. So naturally it didn't enter the young boy's thoughts that breaking open the box containing the pristine collectors' car and playing with it for the first time, on the driveway outside their home, would result in anything but a good time. That same evening the troubled adults decided that an impromptu family discussion was in order.
