Hold My Hammer While I Pound this Bitch

They always said I would be someone. Always said I would go places. Always said I would do things that got people talking. That, one way or another, people would remember my name. That I would make sure they remembered my name.

They were right.

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Date: December 12, 2030
Location: Detroit, Michigan

Craig stretches out his back, hearing the satisfying crunch of his spine cracking back into alignment. Years of athletics had taken their toll. Craig’s body was damaged, possibly beyond repair. After his arm, his back was the worst. His spine was in complete disarray. After being on his feet, or sitting down, or laying in bed for too long, it would grow terribly stiff…but a good stretch was all he needed to pop the vertebrae back to their place, straightening it out.

“Please, can you at least get that looked at?”

Cue the wife. She was beautiful, even for a woman her age. She hated that Craig had let himself fall into such disarray. Craig was living with a lot of injuries…none of which he had sought out medical attention for.

“I’ll be fine.”

“You say that every time, but you insist on putting yourself through all that discomfort.”

“I’ve had worse.”

“Which is exactly why you’re such a mess.”

Craig chuckles.

“What about your friend in Chicago? He knows a good doctor, doesn’t he?”

Chuck. Craig and Chuck had met through wrestling. A strange turn of events, as fate would have it. They both wrestled for RWF. The second promotion Chuck had signed to, and the third for Craig. Craig had acted at first as a sort of mentor for him. The two grew to be good friends through their time together. They had had some incredible rivalries, and worked equally as well as a team, capturing the tag titles on three separate occasions. Chuck’s sister was a doctor, and a damn good one. Craig had, in fact, seen her on two separate occasions. Once was after a wrestling show in Boston, where he had reinjured his arm. Unable to move his elbow, he brought himself to the hospital, where Dr. Matthews had diagnosed a dislocation. His next meeting with her was a year later. He was in Chicago on business, and Chuck had offered him a place to stay at his place. Craig had agreed, and had spent the week at his house. Jessica was spending time there for the week as well. Her and her kids. Craig couldn’t quite remember their names. His wife would remember. She had a weird thing for that kind of stuff.

“Sometime, I’ll get it looked at. For now, I’m still ticking. I’ll be fine.”

She looks at Craig, frowning. Craig smiles, walking over to her, and circling her chair. He clasps his hands around her shoulders, gently rubbing her neck. She sighs, and looks up at him.

“Promise me.”

Craig leans down and kisses her.

“I promise.”

Craig walks through the arches, into the kitchen.

“Daddy!”

Craig is startled by a girl running up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Craig pats her back.

“Hey baby girl.”

“Happy birthday, Dad.”

Criag smiles. He had actually forgotten that it was his birthday. He was forty-six. Christ. And here was Elizabeth. She was seventeen already, and was the only remaining Hemming child living in the house. Shawn was long gone, already competing in the big leagues, following after his father in the wrestling business. A fourth generation star. He was good. Possibly better than Craig had been, even in his prime. He was wrestling under the name Shawn Brooks and had, funny enough, taken the opposite route Craig had. Craig had originally wrestled under the name Craig Keenan, a way to distinguish himself as a new face, and to escape the shadow his father had left before him. It wasn’t until Craig began using his birth name that the fans really began to show some interest, and began to rally behind him. Shawn had gone the other way. He had started his career using his birth name, Shawn Hemming. He had used the Hemming name to draw some attention, get people to recognize who he was…and later on, had broken free and become his own man. He was nearing thirty these days, but didn’t seem to be slowing down. He had certainly done well for himself.

Then there was Bailey. The middle-child, Bailey had opted not to go into athletics like his parents. She worked at a law firm for a short time, as a file clerk, but had since left. She was married to Zack Matthews. Chuck’s nephew. They had two kids of their own, which was the reason for Bailey’s leaving her job. She stayed at home, raising the kids. Zack was the CEO of his uncle’s company.

“Thanks Lizzy.”

“Are we doing anything today?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Your mother keeps telling me she wants to take us to dinner. So plan on that.”

“Alright.”

Craig takes a seat at the kitchen table. He rolls his shoulder, popping it a few times. Son of a bitch, that was painful. He glances at the newspaper.

CEO set to build houses for the homeless across the country

Craig smiles. As close friends as Chuck and Craig had been, Zack was considerably better at running the company. Chuck had made a ton of money thanks to Matthews Enterprises…but it was to fund his own agenda, and he and everyone else knew it. Zack was charitable. He had given loads of money towards good causes. Some accused him of simly trying to get his public image up in order to keep investments in the company high. Craig liked to think otherwise. There was certainly some good in the kid. Good that had long been absent in his uncle.

His wife walks in, taking a seat across the table from him.

“Is everything okay?”

She sighs.

“Yeah.”

“That doesn’t sound okay.”

She looks at him.

“Do you ever feel like you’re getting old fast?”

“Not really.”

“I don’t know. I just thought today. You’re in your mid-forties. Our youngest daughter is seventeen. It’s just like…it feels like time is flying, you know?”

Craig kisses her.

“We knew it would happen eventually.”

“Yeah.”

He stares at her for a moment.

“We stayed together through it all.”

She smiles at him.

“Thank you for that.”

“Shouldn’t I be thanking you?”

“Maybe.”

Craig laughs. He remembered those days. Back when he was wrestling…things were tough. He was on the road for most of the year, and never really had a chance to see his family. There were times, he and his wife had considered divorce. Times were rough. Financially, they were okay. Craig was making good money as a wrestler. But all the money in the world couldn’t buy the time Craig was missing. He had missed several birthdays. He’d missed a lot of soccer games, football games, cheerleading meets. He’d missed Bailey giving her valedictorian speech at her high school graduation, though he’d arrived in time to see her get the diploma. Craig had missed a lot…but when he retired, things got better. He was still involved with wrestling, sure. But his body couldn’t take much more abuse. He wrestled maybe one or two matches per year. Aside from that, he served primarily as a guest, appearing every so often to promote something, or to get the fans excited. It meant he could still be involved in something he loved, while still allowing him to spend time home with his family.

“I love you.”

She looks at Craig, smiling.

“As much as I did the day I met you.”

She smiles wider.

“I love you too.”

She kisses him, a kiss that brings Craig back to his younger days…back when they first started dating, and shared that kiss for the first time…As she pulls away, Craig is brought back to the present, looking into the eyes of his wife.

Life didn’t get much better than this.