Before he can change his mind and decide its crap, he sends it to Marcus and Bobby.
The telephone wakes Pete at noon, he’s overslept. He never oversleeps.
“Hey, Dad, I heard you were working again.”
“Annabeth?” When was the last time he talked to his daughter?
“You don’t recognize my voice?”
“Who told you I had a job?”
“Mom. Your agent told her.”
“She’s still friends with David?”
“They… thought…
“Why should they think anything?”
“No reason. Remember saying if you ever did another Hollywood job you’d buy me a round trip ticket to Paris plus pay some of my expenses?”
“I must have been high.”
“Probably, but I have video.”
“Bethy, is your mother dating David?”
“What does their relationship have to do with my going to Paris?”
“Relationship?”
“Dad.”
“Have you visited me once since I moved to Woodstock?”
“Are you reneging, going back on your word?”
“I know I’m out of the loop but aren’t you in your junior year at Santa Cruz?”
“I’m taking the semester off to get my head together.”
“What drugs are you taking?”
She hangs up.
Was that a cry for help or was she working him? And what about Barbara and David, are they an item? Pete practices deep breathing as he measures the beans and grinds the coffee.
• • •
When Bethy was nine she went through a bad patch academically. Pete thought she was too social; Barbara informed him their daughter was dyslexic, explaining why she read below her grade level. Mom did research, spoke to colleagues, found therapies and Annabeth overcame her disability. This established the pattern of supermom to the rescue, while average dad was absent as usual. That’s what Barbara called him, she could have said he was working, somebody had to.
In the progressive, private schools Annabeth attended she excelled at what interested her, like English (she was now an avid reader) and sports, especially tennis. As for the rest, she made passing grades. Always popular, she had an ebullient personality most of the time and was sulky when she didn’t get her way; both parents indulged her. For Barbara that meant supporting her daughter’s every whim from sailing to horses, all expensive. Pete was no better, letting Annabeth get away with too much, rationalizing her behavior because she was special.
Unknown to both of them, she and her friends began smoking pot when they were thirteen, stealing Pete’s gourmet bud. How was it possible he didn’t notice? Absent as charged.
He and Barbara were in denial about their daughter having accidents with various family cars, believing Annabeth’s explanations for missing class or not being where she was supposed to be. They were also preoccupied with the disintegration of their marriage then in the ugly stage. When they finally confronted Annabeth, she called them hypocrites.
Pete moved out the summer before her senior year, the same summer she was busted for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and a wide assortment of pharmaceuticals.
For him, drugs were a mind-expanding doorway into the subconscious, a kick-start to creativity. Pete prided himself on being a productive maraholic, but who was he fooling, it started as recreation.
Barbara convinced Annabeth to go to rehab and found a wilderness program on the Upper Peninsular in Michigan. She went and pulled it together, returning to school in the fall, even making the tennis team.
As mother and daughter’s bond strengthened, Pete felt more and more guilty about the kind of father he was. When the divorce became final, he was officially disenfranchised. They were happy to see him go.
Pete sips his morning coffee at noon, opens the NY Times Business Section to check the slide of his safe investments, reduced forty percent in value last year, producing less and less income. Better not blow the Hollywood job when his life is approaching deficit.
Pete goes to the motel office and
The telephone wakes Pete at noon, he’s overslept. He never oversleeps.
“Hey, Dad, I heard you were working again.”
“Annabeth?” When was the last time he talked to his daughter?
“You don’t recognize my voice?”
“Who told you I had a job?”
“Mom. Your agent told her.”
“She’s still friends with David?”
“They… thought…
“Why should they think anything?”
“No reason. Remember saying if you ever did another Hollywood job you’d buy me a round trip ticket to Paris plus pay some of my expenses?”
“I must have been high.”
“Probably, but I have video.”
“Bethy, is your mother dating David?”
“What does their relationship have to do with my going to Paris?”
“Relationship?”
“Dad.”
“Have you visited me once since I moved to Woodstock?”
“Are you reneging, going back on your word?”
“I know I’m out of the loop but aren’t you in your junior year at Santa Cruz?”
“I’m taking the semester off to get my head together.”
“What drugs are you taking?”
She hangs up.
Was that a cry for help or was she working him? And what about Barbara and David, are they an item? Pete practices deep breathing as he measures the beans and grinds the coffee.
• • •
When Bethy was nine she went through a bad patch academically. Pete thought she was too social; Barbara informed him their daughter was dyslexic, explaining why she read below her grade level. Mom did research, spoke to colleagues, found therapies and Annabeth overcame her disability. This established the pattern of supermom to the rescue, while average dad was absent as usual. That’s what Barbara called him, she could have said he was working, somebody had to.
In the progressive, private schools Annabeth attended she excelled at what interested her, like English (she was now an avid reader) and sports, especially tennis. As for the rest, she made passing grades. Always popular, she had an ebullient personality most of the time and was sulky when she didn’t get her way; both parents indulged her. For Barbara that meant supporting her daughter’s every whim from sailing to horses, all expensive. Pete was no better, letting Annabeth get away with too much, rationalizing her behavior because she was special.
Unknown to both of them, she and her friends began smoking pot when they were thirteen, stealing Pete’s gourmet bud. How was it possible he didn’t notice? Absent as charged.
He and Barbara were in denial about their daughter having accidents with various family cars, believing Annabeth’s explanations for missing class or not being where she was supposed to be. They were also preoccupied with the disintegration of their marriage then in the ugly stage. When they finally confronted Annabeth, she called them hypocrites.
Pete moved out the summer before her senior year, the same summer she was busted for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and a wide assortment of pharmaceuticals.
For him, drugs were a mind-expanding doorway into the subconscious, a kick-start to creativity. Pete prided himself on being a productive maraholic, but who was he fooling, it started as recreation.
Barbara convinced Annabeth to go to rehab and found a wilderness program on the Upper Peninsular in Michigan. She went and pulled it together, returning to school in the fall, even making the tennis team.
As mother and daughter’s bond strengthened, Pete felt more and more guilty about the kind of father he was. When the divorce became final, he was officially disenfranchised. They were happy to see him go.
Pete sips his morning coffee at noon, opens the NY Times Business Section to check the slide of his safe investments, reduced forty percent in value last year, producing less and less income. Better not blow the Hollywood job when his life is approaching deficit.
Pete goes to the motel office and
Similar Books
