With his eyes ripped open, Benjamin stared at the man waiting for them in front of the door. Worried, the old man looked over to his son who was helping Katy and Sean out of the car, and it was quite apparent that Tony was feeling sick.
"C"Mon, what"re you doing? Invite me in already; I"ve been waitin" for an hour!" Greg exclaimed with a bright smile and began to laugh while placing his hand on his beer-belly. Outwardly, he seriously looked nothing like Benjamin in the slightest, but nonetheless, he still said "Big Brother" just now. With complete confusion in his voice, Benji looked at his grandfather that he was currently holding up.
"Grampa, what"s going on? Who is that?" He asked before Benjamin ended up swallowing his saliva and just kept staring in front of him, slowly removing himself from his grandson to try and stand on his own.
"What am I doing? What are you doing? I told you never to come close to us ever…" Benjamin exclaimed as he ground his teeth, and Greg looked at him with a frown.
"Yeah, but that was just a joke, wasn"t it? Listen, Ben, stop-" Greg tried saying as he came closer to the old man, but was swiftly interrupted.
"Benji, call the police, please. And you, if you want to leave this place outside of a police car, then I advise you to leave right now. Understand?" Benjamin said quite clearly, not even daring to say his name just because he knew that he wouldn"t be able to hold his anger down then.
With a loud sigh, Greg then shook his head and continued to laugh, while Benji pulled out his phone and called the police as his Grandfather told him to. "For what reason should I do that? I just wanted to come to visit my big brother again, that"s not illegal, is it?"
"Just shut up and leave. Right now." Benjamin told him before Greg once more just sighed as he took some cigarettes out of his pocket, and in that brief moment of him moving his jacket to the side, Benjamin could quite clearly see a gun jammed into Greg"s pocket. He probably didn"t mean to threaten Benjamin subtly, he was way too dumb for that, but rather just forgot that he had it there. But nonetheless, Benjamin knew how far Greg would go without a gun, so seeing him carry one of the most deadly weapons known to man was terrifying.
And it seemed like Benji noticed as well, and after a quick scare told the police about it as well. Just a few seconds later, police sirens could be heard while Benjamin looked over at his son and grandchildren. "Hide behind the car! Hurry!" He told them, worried that Greg might do something that couldn"t be reversed.
Luckily, as the town was rather small and everyone here knew Benjamin and where he lived, the police soon arrived with three different cars as a safety measure against armed criminals.
"Show me your hands!" One of the cops yelled out as he came closer to Greg with his hand on his holster, ready to grab his gun if needed. They couldn"t tell whether or not he was carrying a gun with him, so in case he didn"t, they weren"t allowed to point his gun at him. After all, he was standing there at the moment, not doing anything.
"d.a.m.n, you actually, called the cops on me?" Greg asked with an angry expression as he stepped closer to the police with his hands in the air as if this was something that happened every other day.
Quickly, once Greg came closer to one of the police cars, he was pushed against it while his legs were driven away from each other before he was then swiftly searched. And after only two or three pats, one of the policemen pulled a small handgun out of Greg"s pocket.
"Sir, do you have a license for this?" He asked, but Greg just nodded his head. "Of course I do! I"m not an idiot!"
But soon enough, one of the policemen that were checking Greg"s priors on the on-board computer called out to the policeman currently handling him. "He is currently on parole after an incident of violence in New York State, and his Parole Officer didn"t hand in anything that allowed him to leave the state either."
After a swift nod toward the senior officer, the policeman that found the gun handed it to his colleague and pulled Greg"s hands behind his back, swiftly handcuffing him. "Sir, you"re under arrest for multiple cases of broken parole, including the carrying of a gun and leaving your state of parole without official permission. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to have a lawyer present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you if you so desire." The policeman said as he helped Greg sit down in the back of the car, and while he was taken to the police station, the senior officer made his way over to Benjamin.
"Mr. Joyce, is everyone here, alright? Did he injure you in any way?" He asked, but Benjamin swiftly shook his head. "No, we"re fine. I would like it if you could keep him as far away from us as possible."
"No need to worry about that. As I"m sure you just heard, Greg broke his parole, so he will be brought back to New York state and most likely be put back into jail there." The Senior Officer rea.s.sured, and Benjamin slowly nodded his head. "I see, thank you." He said, and slowly, Tony and the four kids made their way to their grandfather concerned, before the Officer smiled and nodded at the five of them.
"Mr. Joyce, if it is alright, I would like to ask you some questions about why he was here just to make the process easier." The Officer requested before Benjamin nodded his head.
"Of course. Come inside then; I need to take a seat right now." Benjamin said with an inviting smile, trying to hide his, still quite evident, exhaustion from everyone, before the group soon made their way into the house and began to bring the groceries that they did end up buying to the kitchen, while Benjamin and the Officer sat down in the living room.
"Alright, what can you tell me about him?" The Officer asked, and Benjamin looked over at Tony and nodded at him to tell him to come over, before he brought over some cups of coffee, offering one to the officer, who thankfully accepted. Usually, he wasn"t allowed to receive anything from a Civilian under any circ.u.mstances, but as he was talking to the most well-known and kindest man in town, he let that rule slip for a little bit.
"That man is my maternal half-brother, Gregory Lennings," Benjamin explained, and the officer looked at him in surprise. "Oh, is that so? Is there a specific reason you"re not on good terms."
Immediately, Benjamin nodded his head. "He was born soon after I left home and began to travel. I only met him when I invited my mother and her new husband to my wedding, and he always seemed like a little bit of a brat, but then at some point, he turned into a narcissistic criminal. He pulled my son into his gang and nearly ruined his future. Other things happened, but that is the greatest reason why I utterly despise him." The old man answered before the Officer nodded and continued to the more pressing questions.
"Is there a specific reason why Mr. Lennings came here today?" The Officer asked, but Benjamin swiftly shook his head. "Not that I"m aware of, he mentioned something about me owing him a bottle of whiskey for some random reason, but I"m pretty sure he just wanted money. He"s more than aware of my financial disposition, and it"s not the first time he"s tried to get his hands on it through any means. This time was quite harmless." Benjamin explained, and now even Tony was a bit surprised, as he was not aware that Greg came here before like this, as he let his father and the officer continue their conversation.
"I see, have you considered a no-contact order? That way, if you even see him around you, he will be immediately be brought away from you with just calling us." The officer answered, but Benjamin shook his head.
"A no-contact order won"t do anything. Greg came here with a gun and broke his parole; I don"t think he"s going to care about a piece of paper telling him what not to do." Benjamin replied, and the officer slowly nodded his head with a sigh.
"I understand what you mean, but imagine a different situation. Greg gets out of prison, which I"m expecting him to return to for a few years and most likely without the possibility of parole, and then comes here without doing anything illegal on the way. We can do something about hara.s.sment, but that"s just limited to telling him off on the first few cases. If he hadn"t done anything illegal today, he would still be running around this area. With a no-contact, we can always have him be brought as far away from you as possible." The officer explained before Benjamin briefly thought about it before nodding his head.
"Sure, I"m going to think about it. But for now, I doubt we have to worry about running into my brother again." The old man said with a light smile, and the officer nodded his head before standing up. "Of course, we"re going to make sure you don"t have to look at his face again." He said and then headed to the door, as Tony followed him to show him out, and before leaving the room, the officer turned to Benjamin again.
"Have a nice day, Mr. Joyce!" He said with a smile and then left before Tony shut the door and made his way back to his father, merely dropping down onto the couch with a loud sigh, his face as white as paper.
"Today was far more exhausting than I thought it would be when I woke up this morning…" He said as he began to rub the bridge of his nose to calm down before Benjamin lightly chuckled.
"You can say that again. But don"t worry, you heard Jim, I"m sure we won"t have to deal with him again any time soon." The old man responded, and Tony slowly nodded his head.
"I guess so… But… What should we tell the kids..?" Tony asked in a grave, and worried tone, afraid that he may have to reveal that part of his past to them now before Benjamin looked at him with a sad frown.
"We"ll tell Sophia, Sean, and Katy what they need to know, meaning that he"s my half-brother and that he"s sick in his head, but that we won"t see him again. But as for Benji… Tony, I think he deserves to know. He"s 18 years old; he"s going to college soon. You can"t keep it a secret forever." And just when Benjamin said this and Tony realized that he was right, Benji interjected.
"Keep what a secret?" He asked, and Tony immediately jumped up and turned around as he faced his son, who was seriously confused and worried. "Dad, keep "what" a secret?" Benji asked again before Tony slowly swallowed the saliva that was building up in the back of his throat and pointed at the couch.
"Just sit down, I"ll explain." He said, and slowly, Benji did as suggested, before Benjamin stood up. "I"ll be in the capsule if you need me." The old man said and made his way to his room, on the way making sure that none of the other three could hear the conversation between father and son that was currently going on.
The conversation where Tony was telling Benji about all the things that he did in the past. About the meaning of his tattoos and the scars that they were supposed to hide. Tony told Benji about the time where he was trying to stay alive by selling drugs and beating and stabbing other people, and about the time where he was part of even nearly crippling another man. And of course, about the time that Tony spent scamming other people as part of one of Greg"s Gang"s great business ideas. Tony even spoke about the time he spent in juvie, and how he was let out on parole just before he met Benji"s mother.
This conversation ended quite swiftly, with a loud yell, as a young man sprinted to his room and sat down in his capsule to get away from his father.