After a tragedy took his hero away from Mike, he could only dream of seeing him again at his favorite place by the pond. But when Mike looked over, he saw a man who looked like his father, except for his eyes. Who was this man?
There was an old cozy cottage in the woods that had become home to the Walker family, particularly to 11-year-old Mike, and was remembered for a lifetime.
For as long as he could remember, he and his parents would sneak out of town and drive to the cottage to spend the weekend with his grandfather who lived there.
The fresh smell of grass and mud sprinkled with dew, chirping birds, and mysterious starry nights were imprinted on the little boy’s memory, and his sketchbooks were full of sketches of this serene slice of heaven on earth.
But the fondest memory was the time when Mike sat by the steps of the turquoise-colored pond with his father Ryan and his grandfather Geoffrey.
The three generations of men would talk for hours, opening their ironclad hearts, sharing many silly laughs and a few secret tears. All while dipping their toes and their fishing lines into the cool pond water, waiting for fish to catch on.
One time, the trio were enjoying a peaceful afternoon, lost in their worlds, when Geoffrey said something surprising.
“40 years…it’s been 40 years since I first came to this pond to fish. Do you remember that first time, Ryan? You were so excited!” Geoffrey shook his old head, thinking of that distant memory.
“Yeah, dad! I remember how I was scared to touch the water…but he…” Ryan’s words faded into silence, and the smile disappeared off his face.
“Oh, you were so afraid of the water! But Dylan jumped right in. You remember the big noisy splosh and how Dylan thought he almost drowned?”
Geoffrey’s face froze at the memory of that unknown man named Dylan, too. And seconds later, both Geoffrey and Ryan burst into laughter, imitating the boy named Dylan babbling angrily in the water.
The laughter of the father and son was too contagious for little Mike to ignore. “Who was Dylan?” he asked, breaking into laughter himself.
That question sucked the laughter out of the air, and there was only silence around, heavier than before.
Mike was confused as he saw his grandfather look away and touch his sleeve to his eye, while Ryan simply ruffled the boy’s hair and sighed.
Mike wouldn’t learn the truth about Dylan until months later, after being hit by the cruelest twist of fate. Ryan had tried to save a woman from getting hit by a bus in the street, and while he managed to pull her away, it was too late for him…
Suddenly, the world was alien in the little boy’s eyes. There was an emptiness around him, a murmur, a perpetual blur. In the weeks that followed, Mike grew distant from the world and had no wishes but one.
“Mom,” he hugged his mother’s feet. “I want to go there. To the pond by the cabin in the woods. I bet I can still feel dad’s presence there.”
His mother obliged. The following day, he sat on the last step by the pond as his grandpa watched from the cabin window and cried.
“Dad…I can feel you here. I love this place just as much as you do. I’ll always come by here whenever I feel alone. And whenever grandpa feels alone…”
“You’re close, aren’t you, dad? I feel like if I look over to the corner, I’ll find you standing there, smiling back at me,” Mike said, slowly turning his gaze to the corner where his father would often stand.
And when he looked, a familiar silhouette met his eyes. It had to be him. That face, that tearful smile, that bushy hair…
“Dad?” Mike called out, hoping this wasn’t a dream.
He ran toward those arms, laughing, crying, sighing. But there was something different about the man’s eyes. “It isn’t you…” Mike said, taking a step back.
“Hi, Mike! I’m Dylan. I’m your father’s twin,” the man smiled through tears. “And I’m here to apologize…” Mike frowned in confusion because this was the first he was hearing of an uncle.
Geoffrey was fuming, pacing back and forth across the creaky floorboards of the cabin.
“How dare you come here? After all these years? After what you did to us?” the older man choked up as he raised his voice at his estranged son.
“I’m—I’m sorry, pa. I’ve done some terrible things to this family. I ran away from home, I took away all the money you and ma had saved up, including all the inheritance she had been preserving. I was greedy, and that made me blind.”
“My greed had blinded me, pa. And I’m ashamed of who I was. And I thought there was still time, you know? I thought I would wait some more before I showed you my face again before I picked up the phone and called Ryan and apologized to him…”
“Ryan loved you! He forgave you before anyone else did, you fool! ‘He’s just a lost kid,’ Ryan would try to make me understand. But you…you deserted us!”
Dylan’s arms were trembling with guilt and shame, and he wept like a child who missed his only sibling. Geoffrey was still too angry to care, but Mike ran in and brought his uncle a glass of water to calm him down.
“Here you go…” Mike said and wrapped his hands halfway around Dylan’s shoulders.
“What would dad have said, grandpa?” Mike asked Geoffrey, who turned around at that realization.
“He isn’t here to speak for himself, so he must speak through us…I think,” Mike said, reflecting on the words that came out of his inner voice.
“Pa!” Dylan knelt beside his father’s chair. “I know you can’t just trust me, but let me earn it from you. Within the next week, every item and possession I bought with the stolen money will be sold and I will bring all the money back to this house.”
“I wasn’t there for my brother, but please, I want to be there for his son. I promise that I will work harder on my business and provide for all his needs. Only then will I have the right to ask your forgiveness, Dad…”
