Won't You Be My Neighbor

Heavy rain pounded the roof and slapped the bedroom windows, which cured another night of insomnia. Jacin fell into a deep sleep similar to when he had is accident several weeks ago.
Jacin is at The Trapp with some friends and a woman he doesn’t know, but that Josh calls Keri. She removes a photograph from her wallet and passes it around. When it makes its way to Jacin, he sees a photo of a young, conservatively dressed man with black wavy hair and shocking green eyes. The strange woman says to the group, "Mark’s a good husband and father…"
Suddenly Jacin’s laying face up on cold concrete, pain searing through his body. He just makes out the same man in the photo standing over him, his eyes now more shocked than shocking, and cradling a small girl with velvety blonde curls – the same girl Jacin just risked his life to saving.
This January marked a change in Utah weather: more precipitation but less snowfall, which led to more days of inversion hovering over valley floors like dirty tube socks.
This, coupled with asthma, prohibited Jacin’s father from being outdoors helping move in boxes and furniture.
Jacin’s father’s built slight, but could hold his own with a pissed-off moose. He used to be one of those gun-totting, Skoal-chewing, narrow-minded types. But when his son’s relationship with George only continued to grow in love, support and security, and because he truly felt George was good guy, he eventually came to terms with Jacin’s homosexuality.
Jacin was thrilled by the change in his father, and over the last few years they’ve bonded more than Jacin would ever have imagined.
But today, this cruddy air-filled winter day, Jacin felt that their bond may have become too tight. From this day forward, he will always notice the little brown-brick duplex through his large living room window. And from this day on Jacin will always be reminded that inside one-half of the little brown-brick duplex — just four doors east of his home — his parents lived. Within a 53-second walk. He checked.
He stood looking out the living room window, his right knee throbbing, and he watched George, Josh and Mark schlep box after box through the west side duplex’s front door, the side closest to his own front door.
On the small square porch stood Jacin’s mother, also slight in stature; yet could easily turn a man to stone with just one look.
Jacin had weathered that look countless times, especially as a child. He and his twin brother Jeff used to cause all sorts of mischief in the neighborhood by pulling pranks, not only on other kids, but on their parents, too.
One evening the twins conspired against their mom after she made them sit at the dinner table until they ate all the nasty chick peas off their plates. (Funny how Jacin grew to love them.) They eventually made it through, but immediately raced to the bathroom to purge, so to speak. While bent over the toilet bowl, Jacin noticed his mom’s Prell shampoo bottle. He sneaked it into his and Jeff’s bedroom and filled it with blue paint from the model World War Two fighter plane his dad had given him last Christmas. He had yet to build the model plane, but was certain he never would, so he used the whole canister of paint.
The next morning, from the bathroom came the Screech Heard Round the World. Unfortunately for Jacin and Jeff they were forced upright the rest of the day from the lashings they received from their mom who used the belt they gave their dad last Christmas. Mom blamed Jeff, which was usually the case, so Jeff received the brunt of the belt, fifteen lashings, while Jacin had to withstand only five.
Jeff has always held true that Jacin is the favorite son because he was the first born, by a mere seven minutes. And Jacin has never voiced his agreement to Jeff.
Their dad arrived home that night to find Mom with a boyish haircut and a soft blue hue to it. Being a prankster himself, he couldn’t help but laugh when she told him what had happened. Years ago, just after they were married, they went fishing on Strawberry reservoir. Actually Jacin’s dad fished and his mom sunbathed. Jacin’s dad finally caught a fish after several hours. His mom paid no attention to his dad’s enthusiasm, so he sneaked up behind her beach chair and dropped the small slimy fish down the front of her swimsuit. Jacin had always wondered if this was why he and his brother weren’t conceived until nearly a year after his parents married.
Jacin watched George, Josh and Mark finish unpacking the moving truck and then walk the 53 seconds back to the house. He looked at George and smiled, feeling the butterflies in his stomach even after all these years together.
Then he focused in on Mark. Jacin, having never met Mark, felt like he’d seen him somewhere before, but couldn’t remember with any certainty. The trio strolled through the front door, welcomed by the dachsunds Hansel and Gretel.
"Hey Jacin," said Josh. "This is Mark, the guy I’ve been telling you about."
Jacin felt a strange sensation, like déjà vu, when he finally had a good look at Mark, but he couldn’t figure out why. And when they shook hands, Jacin could feel the tension in Mark’s grip.
"It’s nice to meet you," offered Jacin.
Mark hesitated and had an expression of sinking in quicksand. He couldn’t believe he was standing in front of the man who saved his little girl.