Here comes the betrayer! David Parker shouts, eyes wide. You can go back right now!
Dad, what are you doing? Andrew stammers, bewildered. Ive been away for twenty years and you greet me like this!
If it were up to me, Id meet you with a belt! David grabs his own belt, then sighs. Never mind, well sort this out now.
Take it easy! Andrew steps back, trying to calm himself. Im not a child; I can answer you.
Thats your nature! David snaps, dropping the belt. You attack the weak, flee the strong, deceive the kind, and serve the wicked!
Really, why are you so angry? What are you accusing me of? Andrew shrugs. If any guilt ever rested on me, two decades have washed it away.
Nice to say that when youre the one at fault! Of course you want everyone to forgive you. I have no forgiveness for you, David declares.
What could I possibly have done? In the naval academy I thought my parents had branded me a traitor and banned me from returning home. They never answered my letters, though I kept writing!
Dont you know? David taunts.
Andrews face shows pure confusion, but before he can clarify, his mother interrupts the heated exchange.
Enough of this! Mary Thompson cries, flinging her arms wide. Youre bringing shame on our family! Get him out of here, Andrew, before you disgrace our name!
Andrew freezes, stunned as a statue. Mary adds, If God gave me strength, Id pull you away with my hands! Look at the bruise under your eyeGods hand must have struck you.
David chuckles, Someones done a fine job! Id shake his hand.
Parents, whats happening? Andrew yells. Are you out of your minds? Ive been gone twenty years! Why this treatment?
Who sent you there? David asks. Well kick you out, and then thank the one who caused this.
What do you mean who? I was on a bus heading home. At the stop, a lad I barely knew, Pete, recognized me and ran over to greet me!
The bus stops, a young man darts forward, looks me straight in the eye, spits in my face and darts off! When I gather myself, the trails already cold.
David smiles. What a mysterious hero! Ill have to ask Pete who ran into you.
Dad, is that all you care about? Andrew shouts. Just because I was away for twenty years, you think I could just not come back?
And what are you, traitor, doing here? Mary retorts.
Why am I a traitor?
Because a voice from the kitchen shouts.
Whos that brave soul? Andrew snarls.
A figure steps into the light.
This kid slapped me! Andrew points at a lanky boy.
Good lad, my grandson! David beams. You didnt miss the chance!
My grandson? Andrew recoils.
Yes, your son! Mary blocks him with her body. He was abandoned!
I have no son! Andrew protests, voice shaking. I never did, and if I had, Id know.
Remember when you fled the village twenty years ago? David says, his voice cracking.
***
Andrew never calls his departure a runaway. It was a planned leave, just a bit early, and there were several reasons.
He had to travel faralmost across the countryto attend a marine engineering college. The scholarship barely covered a modest living, and asking his parents for money across the country felt awkward. They could send food, but how would that work?
A second reason: a few weeks before he left, the village was roiled by a rash of unwanted suitors. If hed lingered a couple of weeks longer, he might never have gotten away. Hed rather escape than be forced into a marriage he didnt want.
When asked why, hed answer: I want my life tied to the sea. I wont stay at home while my future drifts like a ship without a rudder.
The sea entered Andrews life by chance. After school he served in the Royal Navy, hoping to repay his country, but the salty decks taught him land wasnt his home. When he returned, a placement offer for an apprenticeship as a ships mechanic lay in his pocket.
Before starting, he decided to enjoy his freedom. Young men after service revel in nightlifedrinks, fights, any thrill that keeps them from feeling empty. He watched those lads, thinking they were proud eagles ready to change the world, only to end up shackled to a heavy load: wife, children, a farm.
Andrew refuses that fate. No matter how much he parties, he keeps his belt tight, his shoes laced, his resolve firm. He even sews his own belt before leaving, bolts tightening his resolve.
The village girls start to whisper about him: a young, ambitious man with a clear plan, unmarred by scandal. Yet every direction points at himinvites, gifts, promises of love. His parents receive delegations trying to arrange a match, hoping to bind him through a union.
Andrew sees the trap. He cant defend his independence, nor can he convince his parents. So he slips away from the village a month and a half early.
As the saying goes, Better safe than sorry.
He arrives at the port, signs up for a berth, rents a room in a hostel, submits his enrolment papers, receives his acceptance, and writes home to say hes safe, settled, everythings fine.
His parents reply with a furious letter, branding him a traitor, a coward, and a host of other vile names. They even claim he no longer has parents, no home, and that his place is the deep sea.
Confused, Andrew writes again, seeking an explanation. No telegrams return.
He could have stormed back, but his studies keep him busy. He writes constantly, but the only reply is a single, halfpage note that arrives with his diploma: May you drown, traitor! Coward! Signed not by his parents but by David Parker and Mary Thompson.
He never learns why. He signs a naval contract and sails. Every six months he docks on the mainland, sends another letter home, and sails away again, no longer waiting for answers.
At forty he finally cares more about why his parents labeled him a traitor than about any new voyage.
The confrontation is anything but warm.
What are you running from? Andrew repeats mockingly. Was it because you never arranged a proper marriage for me? Did you think Id come back emptyhanded?
I saw the gifts, heard the promises. You knew Id go to college, yet you tried to corner me! David roars.
We wanted a good match for you, but you ran off with Nancy! Mary hisses. A childless orphan!
She had once come to them, claiming she was pregnant with his child, seeking their counsel. Should we let our grandson go to his fate? she asked. And they thought theyd throw their own grandson to destiny.
When did that happen? Andrew asks. I wrote you a month after I left, you told me not to return!
Nancy told us she was pregnant! You told her to get an abortion and disappear from your life! David snarls.
Interesting, Andrew replies. So after you banished me from home, you took her in? Shes an orphan, nobody else, but she carries our grandchilds blood. You raised Steve, didnt you?
Call her Nancy, Andrew demands. We need to sort this out.
There’s no one to sort with, Steve says. My mother died ten years ago. My grandparents raised me!
Right, Andrew mutters. And your father met his end right before his eyes!
Youre the one who abandoned my pregnant mother! Steve yells. At least my grandparents were decent people.
So youre all righteous, and Im the traitor, Andrew says, sarcasm dripping.
And a coward! David adds. You fled responsibility and sent a poor girl for an abortion!
Did you even see the letter? Andrew asks.
Unlike you, we believed the girls story, Mary says.
Fine, then lets do a DNA test, Andrew suggests. If Im the father, you can hang me on the gate!
The test comes back negative. Andrew hands the results to his parents.
Clear enough? he asks. Nancy knew I wasnt the father, yet she came to you.
The tragedy isnt that they believed a lie; its that they accepted their son as a coward and traitor for twenty years. Now they ask for forgiveness I no longer need.
I could pity you, but I wont. Goodbye, thenthough you already said goodbye twenty years ago.
Andrew boards a ship and leaves, while Steve stays behind, milking the old folks and claiming to be their beloved grandson, insisting the test was wrong and that his mother was saintly.
And thats the end.
