Swizzger: Family of Four... Vols. I & II

Vol. I

So about a year ago, on a day much like today, Jack was walking towards the door. It was his front door, in the front of his house. It was painted red. That was a good thing, because if it wasn't, you wouldn't be able to recognize his house. All of the houses on Jack's street are the same. His is the only one with a red door. The reason he was at the front door was to recieve the morning news paper.
His paper was called the Seaside Press. This is the local paper of the little town of Seaside, Kansas. It is the most typical of suburban towns, and it is about 45 minutes west of Topeka. No one really knows why it is called Seaside, being landlocked so far away from the ocean, and all. Well, atleast Jack didn't know why it was named that, but he didn't care. He never had thought about anything like that before.
The news in the paper wasn't really news to Jack. He was the Chief Editor of the paper. He hated his job. Well actually, he hated his life. Jack Swizzger was a lonely man, 34, never married, didn't have much of a family, and the family he did have never spoke to him. The person he was closest to in his family was his 20 year old brother, John, whom he hadn't talked to in two years.
John, like Jack was a freakin' weird person, if you ask me. He had 24 pet peaves and he knew it, because he counted and kept track of them. One of them was when people said things such as 'LOL' instead of laughing for real and 'TTYL' instead of actually saying, 'I will talk to you later." He considered communication like this Newspeak. Another of John's 24 pet peaves was also shared by Jack and the rest of their family (some things like pet peaves are hereditary, I guess). What they hated more than almost anything was surprises. And boy, were they in for one.
Neither Jack nor John knew that the events of that day would bring them together for the first time in two years.

Vol. II

After Jack had read the paper that wasn't news to him, he made a alphabetized mental list of groceries he needed to buy (eggs, fruit, laundry detergent, milk, and yogurt) and went to the store.
Jack pulled in to the front parking spot in a mostly empty parking lot of the 'Seaside Food Mart'. There were no more than 15 cars in the parking lot. Jack walked into the store.
"Welcome to Seaside Food Mart," a female at a register said.
"Thanks," Jack said without looking at the person. It took a few seconds for the voice that had just talked to Jack to register in his brain as familiar. He looked up at her. It was Sara, his ex-girlfriend. They hadn't spoken in 3 years.
Sara at first didn't know what to think when she noticed who he was. Her heart skipped a beat, her face filled with blood, she got choked up. She stared. Jack smiled for the first time in over a week.
The last thing he smiled and laughed at before that was a political cartoon in the comic section of the paper of the president in a dunce cap. He didn't know why it made him smile and laugh. He wasn't a political person.
She didn't know what to do, but she couldn't help what she did do: she smiled back.
"Jack," Sara said.
"Sara."
"Hi"
"Hello"
"How have you been, Jack"
"I have been okay, I guess..." he paused. "I won the lottery."
"What?!"
"Yeah, I won the lottery and I am going to drive to the lottery office in Kansas City to pick up my check this afternoon."
"Well goddamn Jack. Aren't you excited?"
Jack Shrugged. If there wasn't anything that he truly loved, you could be almost certain it wasn't money. And winning the lottery was quite a surprise. It made him cringe when he found out.
There was a long pause between them. "I still love you", Jack said.
"I don't know what to say", Sara answered.
"Say you will come to Kansas City. We could start again. It would be different this time."
"Okay, I will come."
"Really?" Jack asked.
"Yes."
Jack laughed. Sara laughed. Things were alright.
While this reunion was happening in the food mart, a little over 300 miles away in a small apartment in Bird City, Kansas, was John. He was drinking a beer. That was pretty much the only thing in his fridge. In front of him, on the coffee table, was a remote for the TV, some porno magazines, and an unscratched scratch-off ticket.
Though they had many similarities, John and Jack were completely different people, each one with his own weird traits. John and Jack's strangities were probably a result of their childhood. Make fun of them if you want, but they had two dad's. Yep, Jack and John's parents were gay. They are dead now. Their car was found four years ago smashed to bits and practically flattened from a fall it took off of a cliff near the coast of California. If I wanted to illustrate how odd Jack and John's fathers were all I would have to is this:
Their names were also Jack and John. The Jack and John who were in Seaside and Bird City, the ones that were still alive, were both Juniors.