"Father" by Armin Tolentino

 

No one cheered him across the finish line.  For the first time in so long I had a clear vision of the future and saw Charlie and me, old and fat in a rowboat with a twelve pack and fishing rods leaning lazily on the edge.  There was sunlight everywhere burning our skin.  I could smell summer.  My insides were bursting with excitement.

I stood up with him still staring at me with all this hate.  Somehow I was certain he was seeing the same vision in his head and I knew Paul must have been telling him the same about fishing and fighting.

"A fucking coward, just like Dad."  I was all lit up like a lightning bug with the thought of my brother and I growing old together.

I pulled my fist back and connected with everything I had.

 

Page 12

Next: "The Search"

MAY DAY

05/01/2005

Forward

Table of Contents

 

POETRY

1. "My Grandmother Reflects on What She Saved"

2. "Doing Nothing"

3. "Carry the Family Name: How to Exorcise Your Past"

4. "Just James"

5. "Where Would We Be Without Penance?"

6. "Pith"

7. "A State of Mind"

8. "For My Father"

9. "The Hartford Diner"

10. "Interpreting the Signs"

 

PROSE

1. "Living in Hotels"

2. "Berdl the Goniff and the Great Baby Exchange"

3. "Father"

4. "The Search"

5. "Pay Me No Mind"

6. "The Man Who Hated the Moon"

7. "Closer Than They Appear"

 

Credits & Contributors