A man becomes addicted to hard drugs when a packet of white powdery substance comes with the pearls he bought for his wife in Okinawa, Japan after his tour of duty innVietnam. His only son embarks on a relationship with his father regardless of his addictive personality. His mother shared with her son just how she dealt with his substance abuse for over thirty years, it all started by him buying the gun with the pearl handled grip against his parents desires. Throughout his life in Kansas his family had saved themselves from the fiercest most destructive tornadoes. Now the tornado of his self-destruction settles within him as he keeps that weapon of death always within his eye sight. Going against his parents wishes caused the death of his younger brother who accidentally fired the weapon a direct hit to his heart, thinking it was not loaded. His brother’s death is what drew him to hard drugs. Never can he forgive himself from the killing of his younger brother. Filled with unending guilt he self-excommunicated his presence from Kansas and his family farm. He joined the marines to make his way. His gay son will not forfeit his marriage to his man but will always see to it that his father stays in hospice. An argument about his commitment to his father’s live causes a separation between his partner and himself. As a result he plans a trip to India. His son realizes the truth that the death of his father’s younger brother was an accident. His son is the only family left in his life who does not judge him for his past faults! Love without violence is what his son and his partner choose to fulfill once the pearls that his father gave to his mother arrive mailed to his partner. Once his partner could not comprehend why he loved his father so. Yet in the end they reunite after his trip to India, where the revelation of his fathers behaviour in the accidental shooting of his younger brother. India’s beliefs in living within each moment honoring all life is the lesson he learned from his travels. It’s the blood filled moment of his uncle’s death that comes to his mind in the middle of the Ganges. Father and son along with his son’s partner watch over the obsessive need for his father to always keep the gun with the pearl handled grip: the killing weapon he revers for a male stereotypical belief that guns empower American manliness.
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