Seven Months Later

"So you're a lumbersexual now?"

"Fuck you." I shoved my bag into Sean's chest so I could dig out some money for the airport vending machine. Dr Pepper, the Fountain of Youth. I almost wept after taking the first sip, the first cold, sweet, carbonated thing I'd had since the Nairobi airport.

"So no pop in Africa, eh?" Aiden asked as I took my bag back and we started walking out of the airport.

"And no razors apparently," Sean said, reaching over and giving my beard a fierce yank.

I punched him in the bicep. He yelped like a girl. It was true that I had a fairly extensive beard, along with a deep tan and dramatically leaner body. "No more pretty boy muscles," Dad had remarked after l'd walked in the door and he'd hugged me.

"Those are real-work muscles."

Mom had just pursed her lips. "You look like Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments."