Matriarch 2.8: the Not so lucky Clown.

Boston wasn’t feeling well. He was eating less, what he was eating he was starting to throw up without trying. He could already see that he was losing weight, though his stomach looked just as large as ever but was itchy and and hurt to scratch. He was feeling very uncomfortable and was having a hard time concentrating on his music anymore.

Part of him really wanted to finish up some more songs, get another hit so that he wasn’t just a one hit wonder. He was talking to his mother on the phone every day now. She was worried about him and called when she was cooking dinner, or washing dishes. The phone held by her shoulder to her ear as she went through her daily routine.

Finally she said, “I’m callling your siblings. You need to get out of the house. Geek Con is coming up and it will take your mind off things. You’re to stressed.” So with a sigh, he agreed. It was true, he hadn’t been spending time with his family members like he should. Maybe it would help to see them.

Maybe he was just sad.

Ebony loved the rocket ship so they learned a bit about how to build one. A guide walked them through the steps of how a space ship was built and explained that it can be very expensive. This one they were playing with is made of the cheapest materials and wouldn’t actually go to space, it was for demonstration purposes only.

Ebony loved it and even got a mini rocket ship toy as a souvenir which she carried around with her for the rest of the festival.

Cortez came with them, though his daughters were not able to make it like Jamie had hoped. It would have been awesome for the cousins to meet each other. He got in line to buy them some souvenirs since they were missing it because of school and he didn’t want to ruin their studies to come out to geek con. Maybe they would come back later while it was still open on the weekend.  Though the big competitions were going on today.

Josiah showed up but was really unhappy about it. Geek Con was not his thing. He’d rather be back at his house fishing and enjoying solitude away from people. He trusted his moms instincts though, so he came out to see his older brother. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that he was The Lucky Clown. He hadn’t known that his own brother was the famous clown that the internet had redubbed “Tragic Clown.”

Was it cool or uncool to ask your own brother for an autograph?

And to think that he’d had a child and Josiah had another niece! Actually come to think of it the song was “My brother’s son.” He couldn’t think of any of his brothers that had sons? So was it a made up song?

Josiah finally stopped bantering with himself and called his older brother over while they watched Ebony play, and he asked him about his music career. He learned about Zech who was at school and hadn’t been able to make it to Geek Con with them. Boston had been working hard all through his life to get as far as he had. He loved music and being true to himself in his music.

The lyrics to the song were partially true, and partially made up to fit the music better so that it could be a hit. He’d worked closely with producers on it to get it to have the right sound, and still be true to what he wanted to write. But his son really was his nephew. “You’ve met Griffin right?”

“Yeah… kind of. He was at the party Cortez threw for Lilian.”

“Yeah… I’d almost forgotten about that party and you being there. I spent most of it avoiding Griffin because I didn’t know how to talk to him about this. I actually started forming the song than. It was around that time that Kallie and I got properly married. ” Boston reminisced about the party for a bit. Maybe he could talk to Griffin… It hadn’t been like they went out of their way to attack each other than. They had just avoided each other, or maybe he had been the one doing all the avoiding.

“So… it’s true than. But you’ve been raising him yourself as your own?”

“Raising him yes, as my own no. He knows his father is elsewhere. I’ve told him who is father is actually. I just haven’t told him much about him. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“How about, ‘he’s my brother. would you like to meet him and find out for yourself?’ ”

Boston shook his head. “Kallie and I aren’t ready to tell him that.”

“What if he is? How old is he?”

“About to turn thirteen.”

“You should tell him. If he knows who you are, he’s probably pieced things together anyways. By the way bro, can I get your Lucky Clown autograph to show off to my friends?”

“Keep it secret exactly how you ran into me.” Boston laughed, “Make up some fun story. Just make sure you let me know what it is so we can keep it straight if I ever need to back you up on it. ”

“Deal!”

Meanwhile, Cortez and Jamie were talking. They were worried about the fact that everyone was eating except Boston. He used to eat so much when they were kids growing up together.

“He doesn’t look so good either… Mom I think something is really wrong with him. What should we do?”

“We’ll get him to go to a doctor. Keep him positive and happy for now. Give him a good day. I think he really needs it.”

“Okay. I’ll do that.”

The Lucky Clown signed the wall as well where everyone could sign as a guest book. Josiah laughed looking at it. That was the perfect proof of how to back up his story. Ebony ran away from their adult conversation when she saw Cortez and Jamie coming up to them. She was super excited to see Grandma again.

And Cortez happily introduced himself to his niece. They talked about silly things like unicorns and rainbows for awhile, following whatever train of thought that Ebony had. Which was of course natural for Cortez because he’d raised two daughters already, a niece wasn’t so difficult.

He followed closely behind her as she went around introducing herself to everyone at the computers. It didn’t matter that they were complete strangers. This girl was charismatic. He was pretty impressed that his brother had done such a good job with her, even though she probably should be a little bit more cautious around strangers, at least she had lots of family around keeping an eye on her.

Josiah called him over so Cortez passed Ebony off to Grandma Jamie so he could run over to see what his brother needed. Apparently it was to enjoy their brother make a fool of himself in the gaming competition. Boston was… bad at it. He hadn’t grown up with the level of technology that was in the virtual reality gaming system, and though Cortez hadn’t like Josiah had, he could still see the entertainment behind the situation.

Boston looked hilarious.

Ebony was really into the guy at the computer. So Jamie stayed put keeping an eye on her as well as watching her sons interact with each other. It was nice to see them together again.

Though she did wonder where the working rocket had lifted off to. Ebony’s conversation finished she took her grandma’s hand and they walked across the courtyard together to the gaming station to watch the end of Boston’s round.

Cortez decided to take a shot at the hackathon even though programming had never been his thing. He’d seen Riley do it enough when they shared a bedroom together. He figured he had picked up enough pieces here and there to at least compete.

Of course… the judges were currently missing because they had apparently taken off to go on a space voyage together. (autonomous space woohoo by NPC being a thing I didn’t know existed!) But when he looked at the scores that were already up he saw his own brother, Boston, who had failed so miserably at he gaming rig, right there at the top of the current list.

Cortez turned around when he heard the rocket coming back and decided to just let his brother have the win. Maybe it would boost his spirits! He walked over to the rest of his family as the rocket landed and the judges stepped out looking very content.

Hmmmm, maybe he should get home to his wife soon.

The small group of family members chatted for a bit longer until Jamie finally came out with it. “Look Boston, I’m worried about you son. Go see a doctor tonight for me please. If I need to I’ll come baby sit. Or you can wait until Kallie gets home. But you need to go tonight. Okay?”

“Yeah mom. I’ll do it for you. But I’m fine. Honestly. I just am a little under the weather lately is all.”

“I’ll call you in the morning to make sure you did what you were told.” She kissed him on the cheek and gave him a hug. Than she tickled her grand daughter. “Be a good girl and take Daddy home and make sure he goes to the doctor okay?”

“Yes gamma!”

“That’s a good girl.” She moved to her other sons and gave Cortez a hug. He’d be off to Forgotten Hollow in the opposite direction. In fact… they were all heading in seperate directions because Geek Con was at a central location for all of them. At least she and Josiah lived on the same street and could keep chatting as they headed home.

Boston procrastinated when he got home. He sat Ebony on the toilet after the long day out at Geek Con. It was good they had a nice car that they could get home fast with instead of having to take a bus all the way there. It would have taken forever.

Than Kallie was exhausted when she got home….

And didn’t quite make it to the bed.  A fuel pipe at work had exploded and they’d had to battle pretty hard to get it fixed. Boston shooed her into the bath and kept an eye on her so that she didn’t fall asleep and fall into the water, than he got her into bed.

Changed out of his wet clothes from supporting his wife and got into a nice suit to look impressive when he went to the doctors. A nice suit would hide that he wasn’t feeling well.

When he got home he sat in a daze in the living room, trying to eat something. To deny what the doctors had told him as true.

It just couldn’t be true.

He stared at his food and knew it had to be true by his lack of appetite. All the symptoms had been there for awhile and he’d been ignoring them until they got worse and worse.

Now it could be to late.

He dreaded the call that he would get in the morning from his mother. How could he tell her the truth.