Gary's Legendary Return

CHAPTER 6

Gary stormed out of the birthday celebration hall, seething with anger. 

Gary's face was red with fury as he made his way through the crowd, pushing past people who were peeking at him unbelievably. 

No one could believe what had just happened. Everything was just like in a flash, it happened without expectation.

As he reached the door, he turned to face the room, his eyes flashing with anger. "You all can go to hell," he spat, before slamming the door shut behind him.

The room fell silent, and then a low murmur began to ripple through the crowd. Gary's outburst had clearly shocked everyone, and they were all staring at each other in confusion.

"What kind if a son in law is he?"

"What had gotten into him to this extent that he really had no regard for his elders." None of them had spoken as though they felt for Gary.

All had ended up blaming him instead of facing and accepting the core truth.

But then, Alora, Sandra's grandmother voiced. "How dare he," she said, her voice trembling with anger. "After all we've done for him, he treats us like this."

"We clothed him, sheltered him, and now this is what he decides to pay us with?"

The other guests started to nod in agreement, and soon the room was filled with a chorus of angry voices. They all believed that Gary had to be dealt with, and that he should be made to apologize for his behavior.

Meanwhile, outside the hall, Gary paced back and forth for a while. His mind racing. He knew he had overreacted, but he couldn't help it. He felt like he was being unfairly targeted by his wife's family, and he didn't know how to make things right.

As he stood there, trying to calm himself down, his cell phone chimed.

"Gary, when are you returning? Your grandfather is patiently waiting for you. He asked that you return as soon as possible." Steve, the family butler repeated hoping that he really heard what order was being metted out.

"I heard you clearly Steve. Just tell grandpa to give me some moments, I'll be home as soon as I can."

"I don't think it's as simple as you take it to be Gary, your grandfather keeps insisting that you return as soon as possible."

He felt a surge of anger rise up in him again, but he knew he couldn't afford to lose his cool. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

"I wish I could just sort this damn thing and leave as soon as possible." he said to himself with a creased forehead.

"Gary! Is there somethng we need to actually know. Is there something unusual going on that we should know about?" Steve questioned further after he sensed some level of uneasineas in Gary's voice.

He wasn't knowing Gary for the first time, therefore he knew when something was wrong with him.

"It's nothing Steve. I'm perfectly fine. Tell my grandfather that I would be back as soon as possible."

"Why not return now?" Steve kept insisting for reasons  unknown to Gary.

After a short while of persuasion, he agreed to it. He cut the phone and set off.

***

On the other hand at the hall, several deliberations were still going on regarding Gary. Alora was yet to comprehend the fact that something as rude as this could happen on her birthday.

The scattered ceremony was one thing that mostly annoyed her. All thanks to Gary, the ceremony didn't go smoothly as planned. She had invited friends to celebrate her seventieth birthday with her, and another important guest which her kids had done her the honor to invite, but here she was finally dealing with a useless son-in-law, creating an untrue family problem.

As such, she was silent while she mused on several ways just to get him down.

While she mused, a stout woman in her seventies also was the first to break the silence again.

"How could he do this to us?" she exclaimed, her eyes blazing with fury. "After all we've done for him, he treats us like dirt."

The other guests murmured their agreement, and soon everyone was talking at once, their voices rising in anger and frustration once more.

"We can't just let him get away with this," one man said, his face dark with anger.

"We should call the police," someone else suggested. "He's a danger to himself and this family. I wasn't expecting that such a useless trash like him would belong to such a family which is very reputable in the society."

Many more people gave suggestions, but Alora wasn't going with them.

She instead shook her head. "No, no, that won't do. We need to teach him a lesson, make him see that he can't treat us like this."

The guests nodded in agreement, and soon they were all offering more suggestions on how best to deal with Gary. Some suggested that he be banned from future family events, while others suggested that he be forced to apologize publicly for his behavior.

But the grandmother was not satisfied. "No, that's not enough," she said. "We need to do something more drastic, something that will make him regret what he's done."

The guests fell silent, waiting for her to continue. She looked around the room, her eyes searching for inspiration.

And then, suddenly, she had an idea.

"I know what we'll do," she said, a wicked smile spreading across her face. "We'll give him a taste of his own medicine. We'll throw a party, just like this one, and we won't invite him. He'll see how it feels to be excluded, to be left out in the cold."

The guests looked at each other, nodding slowly. It was a drastic measure, but it might just work.

But then, there was another lingering question. Gary had left the hall, and no one knew of his whereabouts, therefore who was going to bring him back so he could receive whatsoever punishment he deserved?

"How do we get Gary? And who would being him back here?" she threw the question out openly expecting an answer, but then someone spoke up.

*I will."