Dallas Kennedy.. a dad?

[Dallas Kennedy]

Father of One
Told by Dallas Kennedy

The day started as any other. I had woken up and got dressed. I was wearing a white button up shirt, dark faded blue jeans and my now-famous white Vans. I was just taking a drink of my freshly brewed coffee when my doorbell went off. Who the hell could be here at 8:45am? It couldn't be Michelle, she was out of town and Jack was hardly ever up this early. Esme never stopped by anymore so I ruled her out as well and went to answer it.

I didn't even bother to check through the peephole before opening the door.. maybe I should have. There was a lady in a business suit, and a man dressed the same, and between them stood a little blonde boy. What the hell? Halloween wasn't for another few months.

"Are you Dallas James Kennedy?" The woman asked and I returned a nod. They introduced themselves as Social Workers from the Child Services Department of New York. They sounded so professional it was a little intimidating. The child that was with them looked scared and I couldn't help but feel bad for him. I invited them in and offered them both a cup of coffee, which they graciously accepted.

Then the woman spoke, "Mr. Kennedy, do you recall a Rebecca Thompson?" I didn't recognize the name at first, but it rang a bell and I remembered her face. We had a fling not too long after Kat and I had broken up, she was kind of a rebound for me.. and unprotected rebound. "Yeah, what about her?" I asked, looking to the boy sitting on the sofa so quietly. The woman continued, "We're sorry to inform you that she passed away in a car accident nearly two months ago." Wow, I wasn't really expecting something like that. She had so many ambitious goals that she wanted to do. But there was still the question of the boy..

"I'm sorry to hear that.. But, if you don't mind me asking, what does this have to do with me?" I asked, feeling like a freight train was about to hit me. "Mr. Kennedy?" The man started in, "That boy over there is her son. We've been trying to find you because the paternity tests show that-" He paused and leaned in to me, "Mr. Kennedy, did you know that you had a son?"

I nearly shit myself. My heart sank into the deepest crevice it could find. Did he seriously just say that I had a son? No, that wasn't possible. That kid wasn't mine, was it? It couldn't be. No! Well, now that he was starting at me, I could see the resemblance. Oh my God. "Mr. Kennedy?" The woman asked, pulling me back to the table. "Mr. Kennedy, you're his father, which means that it's your responsibly to take care of this child. But if you don't think you will be able to provide the home he needs, we will need to put him in foster care."

What? Foster care? I couldn't let them do that! They pulled out the piece of paper that showed all of the test results. It had charts and graphs and words that I didn't really understand, but pretended I did because well.. yeah. "Are you willing to be a father to this boy?" They asked. My heart felt so torn. What would Michelle think? What would my brother do? Fuck, what would I do? Could I handle raising a child? The decision had to be made. I looked at the two workers, and then to the boy sitting on my couch. "Yes." I said, unsure of why I did.

He looked so scared, but slightly content playing with a coaster that he had found. That was my son sitting there. I had a son that I didn't even know about. What kind of person hides that from someone? It didn't matter, he was here now.

The workers took a tour of my apartment, checking off everything that needed to be changed or fixed, which wasn't much apart from some particular things like my alcohol collection, dirty magazines and some of Michelle's things. They also gave me a list of things I would need for him, who;s name they still hadn't told me. It was just the necessities, but I was going to spare no expense to make sure he would be happy. His mother died, he was put in a strange place for two months, and now he was told that he had a dad that he didn't know about? Some stranger in a nice apartment?

I finally got to meet him after everything was in order and papers were signed. They were going to keep him for the night so I would have time to get everything ready. Inside, I was excited, but mostly scared of what I had just gotten myself into. I went up the the little blonde haired boy and sat next to him on the couch. "So how old are you?" I asked in a gentle voice. He looked up at me with the same eyes as mine, but his were blue. He had my hair color, my nose, my lips. His smile was all Rebecca though. It hurt to know that she wasn't here anymore, but something great had come of it.

"Four." He replied, still twirling the marble coaster over and over in his tiny hands. I then asked, "Oh, four's a good age you know. What's your name?" He looked up to me and stopped twirling the coaster. "Blake. Uhm, My name's Blake." I smiled at him. It fit rather well, I thought. "Nice to meet you, Blake. I'm Dallas." I said, holding out my hand to shake it.

Play by Harbor Miller