Long ago, when he used to have friends they would talk about how their children loved watching Charlie Brown specials and there were many, Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving all holidays with family in mind. How he hated hearing them talking about their families. Something he didn't have and would never want to have. Or so he told himself. But one thing one of the fathers said was that the children never noticed that the adults in the cartoon never spoke. For some odd reason, that comment stayed with him. When he told the younger version of himself no, he didn't know her, the man then reached into his trouser pocket and pulled from it, a folded laced handkerchief. Almost reverently, he began to slowly unfold it.
What fell out surprised him, though it shouldn't have. Out of the handkerchief fell a small ring. His alter ego offered the ring to him, "go ahead, look at it closer." He took the ring, and examined it, knowing well what he would find, yet not believing his eyes when he found it. Inside, the ring was inscribed "My promise to you," with his and her initials, and a date...a date he had promised himself he would do his best to forget. And yet, there was no denying it, it had come back to him, in the form of a ring, being held by a younger version of himself. He struggled to find his voice, then asked "why have you come here?" The young man replied, "I have come here, seeking my past, so that I can find my destiny." He laughed, a bitter laugh, bitter like that shot of cheap tequila so many years ago, that had set in motion the events that would bring him to meet this young man who could only be his son in a dark street in Seattle. He asked the young man, "do you really wish this to be your destiny? I am sure you can do much better." The young man replied, "no. I am sure I can do a lot worse...Father."