Families : Chapter 1 Cousins
When Chris Reynoldsâ oldest uncle (his fatherâs oldest brother) came home from his tour in Southeast Asia, he brought back with him an Asian wife. But Uncle John decided to remain in the military and moved around a lot, so he and his new wife decided to hold off on having any kids for a while. It was nearly ten years, in fact, before Lisa was born. By then, Uncle John had been given a more stable job position right on the base in Chrisâs home town and he and Aunt Sung felt secure and stable enough to begin having children.
His cousin Lisa was born two years after Chris, and he took on the roll of âbig brotherâ to his younger cousin. Although she was half Caucasian, Lisa had all the physical traits of her Vietnamese mother; jet black hair, almond-shaped eyes, darker than average skin. When she started school, Chris began to notice the way the other kids picked on her because of her looks, and wasnât too thrilled about it. So he made it his self-assigned duty to watch out for his cousin. Outside of school, Lisa and he were nearly inseparable. One of them was always at the otherâs house, as Uncle John and Aunt Sung just lived a few houses down, so it was easy for them to be together to play. Through elementary school and into junior high, Lisa did make quite a number of friends and ended up becoming one of the most popular girls in her class, though Chris was ever-watchful.
Then came that awful day in the summer of his fourteenth year. It was a beautiful day, like so many before it. Lisa was at his house, and she and Chris had just sat down to start devouring the lunch Chrisâs mother had made for them when the phone rang. Chris remembered his mom answering the phone and immediately acting all panicky. She told Chris to keep an eye on Lisa as she frantically grabbed up her purse and car keys. He remembered asking her what was wrong and her telling them to stay inside, finish their lunch and watch television. He remembered his mom and dad both returning home several hours later along with Uncle John, all of them looking sad and forlorn. He remembered the three of them sitting Lisa and him down and trying their best to explain to them there had been an accident and now Aunt Sung was in heaven. He remembered Lisa sobbing against her fatherâs chest. He remembered Uncle John sobbing with her. He also remembered his mother doing her best to console them both and he remembered sitting there trying to comprehend and make sense out of what had just happened. Aunt Sung was like another mother to him, as his own mother was a second mother to Lisa. How could this have happened? How could Aunt Sung be gone?
Several months after the funeral, Uncle John came over one evening and told Chrisâs family he had been offered an assignment on a different base halfway across the country and he was going to take it. Chris thought his life was over. Not only had he just lost his most beloved aunt, but now he was going to have his little âsisterâ taken away from him too. Over the next couple of days, Lisa and Chris talked about it. They both felt the same way; neither of them wanted Lisa to move away with her father. A deep depression set in on both of them that was quite obvious to all. Chrisâs mother asked them what was wrong one day, and Lisa and Chris both just sat down with her and blurted out their misery. That night, Chris remembered hearing muffled discussions between his parents behind closed doors, and the very next day his parents having another discussion with Uncle John inside while Lisa and he ate ice cream outside on his front porch. The following day, Lisa told him that her father had sat her down and talked with her about the impending move and asked her how she felt and what she would like to do. Lisa said she told her father that she didnât want to move because she would miss Chris and his parents and her friends at school too much. Two days later, the grownups explained to them that they had decided when Uncle John left for his new job assignment, Lisa would be moving in with Chris and his family. For the first time since Aunt Sung went away, happiness had returned to both Lisa and Chris. At least they knew they wouldnât be losing each other now as well.
So, his cousin Lisa moved in with his parents and him about a month later. It was sad watching Uncle John leave for his new assignment. It was sad as Lisa and Chris stood holding hands (something they had always done) watching the âfor saleâ sign being hammered into the front yard of Uncle Johnâs place. So much sadness had entered their young lives recently that they had to cope with. The one saving grace for the both of them was the fact that they had each other.
Lisa and Chris were cousins, who acted like brother and sister, and were each otherâs best friend. They talked about everything and told each other everything, Chrisâs protective nature surfaced again when Lisa turned fifteen or so. Puberty was being very nice to Lisa, maybe as a way of making up for the course of events that had plagued her earlier in life, as she was turning into something truly spectacular. Over those years, Chris watched Lisa grow tall, around 5â9â and all legs, and develop and outstanding figure. Her jet black hair hung to her slender waist, her perfect smile could light up the darkest room, her skin was flawless and her dark eyes were soft yet piercing. Now, it was the horny teenage boys Chris was on the lookout for. As popular as she was, though, Lisa didnât date all that much. Instead, she preferred to spend most of her evenings at home with Chris and the folks, which many thought strange, but she didnât mind. One of the things that led to her popularity was that Lisa had always been her own person. She wore what she wanted to wear, was friends with who she wanted, and did or didnât do things because of some kind of social status. Lisa could be very mature one moment, and almost childish the next. She could sit and hold an intelligent conversation with someone much older than herself, then turn right around and splash in a mud puddle outside just because it was fun. She never completely let go of the little girl inside her.
Lisa would regularly travel to visit her father. One month of each yearâs summer vacation she was gone to be with Uncle John, and he would come home for two weeks each Christmas to spend that holiday with the family. There were also the phone calls between them. Every Thursday night, Uncle John would call and Lisa talked with her father usually well over an hour each time. So it wasnât like they had lost touch or anything. Lisa remained as close to her father as the circumstances would allow. And of course, Chrisâs parents treated her as their own daughter. All in all, these were some of the happiest times of Chrisâs life. He couldnât imagine it getting any better. Little did he know or even suspect, they actually could.
The years went by quickly, it seemed, and before he knew it, Chris was an eighteen year old senior in high school. He was an athlete with a scholarship offer to the local state university, an âAâ student and soon-to-be high school grad. He had long decided to go to college locally and live at home, even though the scholarship included free housing. Everything at this point was moving so fast for him, and he would need time to gradually settle into his new lifestyle. Or so he told himself. Because there was Lisa. Chris wasnât ready to be away from her. The months in the summers when she was off visiting Uncle John were the loneliest times of his life. He felt like he was missing his right arm until she returned. Aside from the first two years of his life, this was the person he had grown up knowing and loving his entire life. This was the person he referred to as his little âsisterâ and his best friend. Chris knew he was already going to be busy enough with classes and swim practice, that his time together with Lisa was going to be diminished, but he wasnât ready to relegate it to weekends at best. So he decided he was going to live at home and commute. Besides, the university is only fifteen minutes away. This was what he told himself and believed, actually, for his first year at college. That changed during that summer.
