The Return Of The Prodigal Father

Felipe & Jordan

“It just said, ‘Hi I love you’. That’s it. He definitely wants something.”
“Did you write him back?”
“No. If I write him then he’ll ask me for whatever it is he wants. If I don’t answer, maybe he’ll think i’m busy, or that it went to my spam.”
“We used to eat spam sometimes. My uncle would make it with eggs. I don’t know why people hate on spam like that.”
“We’re talking about my dad.”
“You’re the one who said spam. What? I’m hungry. You distracted me. But I think. I think you should just write him back. Maybe he just wanted to let you know he was thinking about you.”
“Right! Because people email you out of the blue with ‘I love you’, and… they don’t want anything.”
“Yeah..? It happens?”
“Maybe to you.”
“You keep forgetting something.”
“What? What am I forgetting?”
“You can say no if he wants something and you don’t want to give it to him. You can just say no. Remember Officer Brown? Dare? Right to say no?”
“You’re… weird sometimes.”
“Whatever. My point is, you can write him back and if he wants to go mini golfing or something like that, you can say yes. If he wants to borrow five hundred dollars you can just give it to him. No strings attached! If he wants say, two thousand dollars, yeah that’s too much to give him if he can’t pay you back. So just say no. You’re an adult too! But just write him back first.”
“You would just give someone five hundred dollars?”
“Yeah. Especially if I didn’t need it.”
“So... can I have five hundred dollars?”
“Uh… hold on.”
“It’s a joke.”
“Done!”
“Wait is this you? Did you just venmo me five hundred dollars?”
“Yeah.”
“Why’d you do that?”
“I’m confused… didn’t you ask me just a minute ago for five hundred dollars?”
“Felipe, I was just joking. I’ll send it back to you.”
“You can keep it. If your dad needs money you can give it to him.”
“I’m not giving my dad your money. Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know. He’s your dad. Maybe you don’t want to give him your own money. Maybe it’s easier to give him my money. But just so you know, I’m not giving you another five hundred dollars until at least the end of the week.”
“...I wasn’t gonna ask you for another five hundred dollars. I wasn’t even really asking you before.”
“Good! Because this is not gonna become a habit. But maybe you and your dad… maybe that’ll become a regular thing.”
“I doubt it. He’s a flake. He’s always in trouble. Not big trouble, but trouble. He can’t keep a job. Simone and I have eleven brothers and sisters… that we know of. When he’s really down and out he finds some woman to take care of him. Maybe this time he doesn’t have someone else to call. He won’t call Simone. She hates him for all the times we waited for him at the window, and for how he treated Ma.”
“Write him. Don’t write him… just make sure you feel okay about whatever you do, and that’s that.”
“He wants something. I know it. And if I write him and he asks me, I’m gonna try to do it. Then when he gets whatever it is he wants it’ll be the same ‘Thank you son. Preciate it. Well I’ll be movin on’, and he’ll be gone until he needs something again. He’s an old man now. One day he’ll leave and maybe that’ll be the last time I see him.”
“If that’s what you really think, then that’s even more of a reason to write him back.”
“What do I tell him? What do I write?”
“How about ‘Hi dad. I love you too’, ?”
“I can’t just write that.”
“Why not? Isn’t it true?”

Simone & Jordan

“Of course he wrote to you. He wants something. When he doesn’t need us, it’s like we don’t exist. Can you fold the napkins? Okay please? Can you please fold the napkins?”
“Okay, I’m doing it!”
“So what is it? Look if it’s money, I’ll give it to you. I don’t want you giving him anything from your birthday pool. That’s for you to go on vacation.”
“He didn’t ask for money Simone. Hmph…”
“What?”
“Felipe… he gave me five hundred dollars. I was telling him about dad… Mr. Wilson, and that he was probably just writing to ask me for some money and Felipe said if it’s something like five hundred dollars that I could just give it to him. And I asked Felipe if he would just give someone five hundred dollars and he said, ‘Yes if they needed it’, and then I asked him for five hundred dollars and he venmoed it to me. I told him I would send it back, but he said to keep it in case Mr. Wilson needed it.”
“That nigga weird!”
“He lives in his own world.”
“And nothing ever happened between you two?”
“I told you. Nothing happened.”
“Yeah just like you told me nothing was going on with you and Alberto Serrano, and who did I walk in on you with?”
“Are you… ever gonna let that go?”
“I saw my baby brother in a position that no sister wants to see her brother - or anybody she’s related to, in. You lost your virginity, if you’re still claiming that was your first time, but I lost my innocence.”
“You should’ve knocked.”
“Ma told me to come and get you. What?! She yelled at me! If you’re gonna be sneaking boys up to your room, do your fuckin chores so nobody has a reason to come looking for you!”
“I hope you get early onset Alzheimers.”
“Even if I did, Ma’ll still remember it and bring it up every chance she gets.”
“She loves to tell anybody who will listen how she found out, and how she was so accepting from the beginning. She doesn’t tell them how she chased Alberto out of the house with her shoe and then came upstairs and beat me with it!”
“Even if it was me, shit, especially if it was me, she woulda beat us both for that.”
“Yeah, yeah! She woulda beat you, but I got extra licks, extra hard too, cos Alberto was a boy.”
“She was in shock.”
“Yeah she was.”
“See that’s why though… that right there.”
“What do you mean?”
“That’s why I don’t mess with him. That’s not the only reason, but he missed all that. It’s about the way he treated Ma. The birthdays, Christmases, graduation. But he missed us. He’s not a part of any of our stories. I used to be mad that Ma gave me her last name. But she thought she was on her own. That she was gonna have to do it by herself. Then for years I was pissed cos she got back with him and had you.”
“So the moral of the story is you wish I wasn’t born?”
“Shut up! You know that’s not what I mean. She had hope then. She thought she had a reason to. Then you got to be a Wilson, and then that nigga fell off the face of the fuckin earth. Remember I used to beat up the other kids cause they said we were lying about having the same father?”
“Was that really why you hit em? You used to beat on me too.”
“That’s cos you got on my nerves. Then he left her after she lost the baby. That was so fucked up. Fuckin left her… right after that. That was so fucked up. She never ever said anything bad about him. Not once. And she coulda said a lot of shit, but she didn’t.”
“We already knew. She didn’t have to say anything, cos we already knew.”
“I can’t have nothing to do with him because of what he did to us, fuckin ghosted us, but also cos he did that shit to Ma too.”
“I ended up just writing him back.”
“So what did he want?”
“He asked me if he could stay with me for two weeks.”
“He’s not in Vermont or wherever he’s supposed to be?”
“No he’s said he’s ‘close by’. He’ll be here tomorrow. He’s on the bus, on his way here.”
“So you said yes?”
“He said it was just two weeks… I know. I know!”
“It’s gonna be longer than that Jordan.”
“I know.”
“Okay but it’s your life.”
“I can’t say no to him. It was over the moment I wrote him back.”
“I think I’m the only one in this family who has the ability to tell that man no. Hell no.”
“He did ask about you. He said he was gonna try to see you while he’s here.”
“Tell him to keep his distance. No fuck it! I don’t want you to tell him anything. I don’t want you to be in the middle.”
“I can tell him whatever you want. I’m not in the middle. We’re not kids anymore.”
“You see? He’s not even in within city limits, allegedly… and he’s already… just be careful. I’m sayin that for your own good. You’re grown but… just don’t let him come and fuck shit up okay?”
“I won’t let him do that.”
“You didn’t tell Ma?”
“No, not yet.”
“Good! We gettin ready for the Wright wedding and Mrs. Fraisure’s daughter’s baby shower. We ain’t got time for Mr. Wilson Shit.”
“I’ll try to keep the shit… contained.”
“Well good luck. Where’s he gonna sleep? On that hard couch? Shit, at your birthday party I slept on that slab of concrete, I had a crook in my neck for bout a week.”
“So it was the couch, the crook in your neck? I thought it was what you and Shawna… were doing on the couch that night.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you’re finished with those though… wait a minute… You can get started on these.”
“Oh thanks. Thanks for that. I came here to tell you my problems and you put me to work.”
“Well first of all it’s a family business. And second of all this isn’t Super Soul Sunday. You know there’s no free lunch. Mr. Wilson better learn that too.”
“Felipe.”
“What?”
“Felipe has a queen sized bed, so he’s gonna take my room and me and dad are gonna sleep in Felipe’s room.”
“You’re sharing a bed with Mr. Wilson?”
“Yeah. It’s not a hotel. And I’m not sleepin on the couch.”
“If he stays his ole ass past two weeks you better send him to the couch. If you’re gone be sleepin with someone in Felipe’s bed, it oughta be Felipe.”

Dad & Jordan

“I have some clothes you can borrow to sleep in. It’s just a little weird, you walking around all day half naked.”
“I don’t walk around half naked all day son. Besides, I thought you two were gays?”
“Gay.”
“That’s what I said!”
“You said gays.”
“Well, I meant to say the right thing.”
“And just because we’ve seen… just because we’re gay, that doesn’t mean you should just… let it all hang out like that. Your shorts are really tiny. Almost non existent.”
“But you told me to feel like I’m at home… for the two weeks.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t think… nevermind.”
“I sho do preciate you makin time for your ole man. Of course… I wish you didn’t have to work so much doin… what is it you do again?”
“I work at a clinic.”
“A clinic? What kinda clinic?”
“A sexual health clinic. I already told you dad.”
“Well I guess I forgot. Do you meet nice people there? Do you get on with your co-workers?”
“I’m not there to meet people dad. I help people. That’s my job. It’s what I’m there for.”
“And I bet you’re great at it. I’m… I’m really proud of you. I guess I don’t have the right to say that really, cos I didn’t have anything to do with it. But your mother, she raised you two fine children.”
“Yeah. She did. All by her…”
“How is your mother? How’s the restaurant?”
“You know Ma. She’s busy. Real busy. Sometimes I text her and it’ll take days for her to text back. But she’s okay. Good I think.”
“Yeah. I’ll bet she is. She always knew how to take care of herself. You know I sent your sister an email but I haven’t, I haven’t heard from her. Not just yet.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah. Really.”
“Is she uh, is she really busy too you reckon?”
“You know Simone. She… she… she has her own life.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means she… has her own way of doing things, and I’ve learned not to speak for her.”
“Oki doki. Well, no one was asking you to speak for anyone. Just asking about my daughter, that’s all. Lesson learned… I guess. People have their own lives… Let’s change the subject. So! You and Felipe?!”
“Yeah…”
“If I wasn’t passin through, would you two be sleepin in here… together?! Are you two, you know… download dudes?”
“Download dudes? Dad, it’s down low. ‘Down low dudes’, I guess. Where did you hear that?”
“Well I learned it from a tv show. I tried to watch the tube, you know, to see what’s happenin.”
“Which one?”
“What?”
“What tv show?”
“Oh! No idea. Can’t remember. All I remember is the expression. Down low… not download!”
“Right. But no… Felipe and I are not down low dudes. And we’re not a couple. We’re friends. Just friends.”
“So you two never got into anything? Never?”
“Dad… I don’t want to talk to you about my sexual, sexual, my sex life… okay?”
“I’m just tryna show interest in your life. I knew you were gonna be a gay when you were little. I’m tryna show you that I’m cool with it, that I preciate it.”
“You appreciate ‘it’? What does that mean?”
“It means I like that you can love another person, another… man, and that you don’t care what anyone else think about you. That’s what I hope you were gonna grow up to be like, to be strong in who you are, and look! That’s just how you turned out.”
“I don’t know what you meant when you said something about knowing?”
“A father knows. Don’t laugh. They say a mother knows, but a father knows too.”
“I laughed because… no…”
“You can tell me.”
“It’s gonna sound harsh, but here goes. You weren’t around that much. Not really.”
“Doesn’t sound harsh to me. It sounds like the truth son. If it’s harsh, that’s because it’s the truth and not a lie. Can’t do nothin now but face the truth. Look it in the eye.”
“I’m not saying it to… bring it up and make you feel uncomfortable.”
“I know Jordan.”
“A father knows. Ha!”
“Well I knew. About you and your younger brother. His name is Johnny. He’s a gay too. I’m gonna try to see him while I’m out here. Did you hear me?”
“Twelve.”
“Twelve wha… oh. Yeah. Twelve. Johnny, he wants to meet you and Simone, that is, if you two wanna meet him.”
“How old is he?”
“Well he’s… he’s, he’s… he’s uh…”
“Dad? You don’t know how old he is?”
“I think he’s eighteen. Nineteen. He’s eighteen or nineteen!”
“And he’s gay?”
“He says he’s, well now, he calls it a word I don’t think you’re supposed to say, when I asked him what it meant and then I didn’t understand, he said he was a gay.”
“It’s not ‘a gay’ dad, it’s gay.”
“But that’s what I said son. You keep correcting me, but I said it just like you.”
“No, no you didn’t.”
“Yes I did son. I did. Say! I was thinking… maybe we could all meet at the restaurant on Sunday. I know Friday we have dinner at the Velazquez’s and Saturday we’re goin clubbin with Felipe. That means Sunday we can soak up all the alcohol with some of your mom’s food and… and have a family reunion! What do you think? How does that sound?”
“Honestly dad, I think there’s a few things you’re not thinking about.”
“Well what am I missing son?”
“Forget it. It’s late. I have to get up early. We can talk about it tomorrow.”
“Before or after dinner with Felipe’s family?”
“How did you know about that? About the dinner?”
“On the count of Felipe inviting me. That’s how.”
“Dad you can’t go to dinner with the Velazquez’s.”
“Well why not?”
“Phew… I don’t know… but I guess if Felipe invited you.,,”
“And he did. He did son. Look, while I’m here I wanna do things with you. Things you like to do. Be a fly on the wall, not in the way. You know? You know what I mean?”
“I know that it’s coming from the right place but dad, ugh…”
“What’s the matter son? What is it?”
“Let’s just go to bed. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
“Before or after we go to the Velazquez’s?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll talk okay? And you’re not going clubbing! No one says that anymore by the way, but we’re not doing that… together… that’s not happening.”
“Well, Felipe invited me so unless you wanna take it up with him.”
“Believe me, I will!”
“You don’t think he likes you?”
“Dad!”
“Okay, okay! Let’s get some shut eye.”
“Yeah because, fuck! I have to get up in… ugh, it’s twelve seventeen. How is it twelve seventeen already?”
“Well son you know you, you kinda talk a lot. I guess you get that from me.”
“Good night.”
“Night son. Hey? Why are you sleeping so far away from me?”

Written by Isaiah Lopaz, Anthology / Appendix 2021