A Little Excerpt

Summer 2019

Rhody Leyman and his friend, Graham Maggliardi, Kevin’s older brother, spent an evening on the rooftop of Graham’s Brooklyn, New York apartment building. They brought their lawn chairs and a few beers out and decided to contemplate life for an hour or two. It was just the two of them for the time being, so that was nice.

“Also, my whole life, I’ve been struggling to accept myself for me. I think my biological mom is to blame,” Rhody said.
“I kinda know the story but maybe not to that extent,” Graham replied.
“Yeah. So I have three brothers on my dad’s side from a previous marriage. They divorced, and my dad quickly got with my biological mom. She had a story about where she couldn’t get married or she would lose her assets, so technically Jayne and I were both born out of wedlock. Doesn’t bother me so much now, since a lot of people go through that, but it somehow did a lot growing up.”
“If you really want to get technical, all four of us kids were born out of wedlock also. My parents got married a few years after Kevin was born.”
“Nothing wrong with that. As long as your parents are happy,” Rhody remarked.
“Two completely different personalities, but yes they are,” Graham said.
“Same with my dad and stepmom. They both mean the world to me, and were the ones who tried to convince me that I was not at fault for my biological mom leaving us. When I was a kid, I had myself pretty much convinced that I was the reason why she left. I had to go through countless rounds of therapy, and it still didn’t work.”
“Do you know where your biological mom is now?”
“Who knows? Last time I was curious, she was in rural Louisiana. Chances are she’s not there anymore. Jayne and I decided to do a DNA test to see if there was anyone else related to us other than this girl named Caitlyn, who we don’t know at all. And it turns out our biological mom has six other kids with five to six different guys. One of them is a year older than Caitlyn, who I think is 25 or 26.”
“How did you react when you found out?” Graham asked.
“I threw up. I spent the next two to three days just feeling so sick to my stomach. Jayne didn’t feel much better than I did,” Rhody responded.
“Do you know where the other kids are?”
“All over Indiana and the south. And I checked their social media because I was curious, and their lifestyle pretty much matches my biological mom’s.”
“At least you’re in a way better place than they seem to be.”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but yes I’ve done a few things with my life that they haven’t. Estrella, my stepmom, has been more of a mother figure to me than f*cking Miranda ever dreamt of being.”