Page 139 of Anyone But Her

This isn't going to go anywhere. I'm trying Pat's advice, which I still think is from Albert, but I doubt doing this will get me anywhere with my dad.

"Actually, I do care. So how's it going?"

"Jensen's been bitching about labor costs again. Clyde thinks some of us will get cut."

"You think you will?"

"Who the fuck knows? If I had to guess, I'd say I'm at the top of the list. I'm one of the oldest guys there. I can't work as hard and as fast as I used to. If they want to fire someone I'm an easy target."

"Sorry, Dad. I didn't know all that was going on."

"Why would you? You don't talk to me."

"Because I didn't think you wanted me to. When we used to talk, all you'd do is yell at me and tell me what I'm doing wrong."

"Yeah, well, you're older now." He looks away. He hates talking about stuff like this. Talking in general makes him uncomfortable.

"So you want me to talk to you?"

"It's your life. Do whatever the fuck you want."

"But what I'm doing isn't what you want."

"You're not making sense." He waves me away. "Why don't you go talk to your mother?"

"That's why you're doing this. That's why you're coming after me like this. It's because you don't want me golfing for a living. You think it's stupid that people get paid to play a game, even though you don't care that football players get paid. Or baseball players."

"Those are real sports. And the guys who play them aren't spoiled rich kids. They had to work for what they have."

"And I haven't?"

"I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about all them other kids, like that friend of yours."

"Cal? He's from a rich family but that doesn't mean he didn't work hard to get where he's at."

"If you wanna believe that, go ahead. I don't agree. That kid had everything handed to him."

"This isn't about Cal. It's about me. And I'm not some spoiled rich kid. I worked hard to get where I'm at, just like you."

He doesn't say anything. He just stares at the TV, which is on but muted.

"I never told you this, Dad, but I always admired how hard you worked at the shipyard. It's a tough job and not many guys stick with it but you've done it your whole life."

"Why are you trying to suck up to me, kid? To get me to not tell on you for breaking the rules?"

"I didn't break any rules. I went back and checked and double-checked and there's nothing I did that went against the guidelines."

"So you're here to tell me to go to hell. That you're not giving me a dime if you make it big."

"That's not why I'm here. I'm here to let you know that I've never looked down on you for what you do. Just because I don't want to do it myself doesn't mean I think it's beneath me. I don't want to do it because I found something else that I love. Something I'm good at that I could actually do for a living. I know you don't like your job and I wish you could've found something you love and done that instead. The fact that you kept working at a job you hated just shows that you're a fighter. You do what you have to do to survive. And...I'm proud of you for that. I could never do that job for as long as you've done it. I'm young and in good shape and it still wore me out so I don't know how you still do it."

He smiles a little. "Like you said, I'm tough. A lot tougher than you, kid."

"You're right. You are. So can we just agree on that and get past this? Because I really don't want to fight with you anymore."

He finishes his beer then tosses the can across the room, landing it in the wastebasket.

"Remember when I tried to teach you basketball?" he asks.

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