Fiction Ruined My Family by Jeanne Darst

Author:Jeanne Darst
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781101547847
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2011-08-22T10:00:00+00:00

WHEN HIS BREATHING WAS regulated, the “dementia,” which the hospital claimed was due to a bad reaction of a combination of drugs, went away. He left the hospital and went back to his little studio on the corner of Bank and West Fourth Street.

THE NEXT TIME I saw Dad was at the Corner Bistro for Eleanor’s birthday. The Corner Bistro is known for its great cheeseburgers, crowded conviviality, and literary weirdos. It could also be one of the smokiest spots in Manhattan. It had served as my father’s living room since he had moved to West Fourth Street. It had some appeal at first as a place you hung out with your divorced dad: it was lively and noisy and filled with cute young men and old characters, and its burgers were undeniably delicious. But it had its limitations. You couldn’t get a table for a lot of people, a lot of the time you couldn’t get a table at all, you were often sharing one with strangers, which is fun under normal circumstances, but when it’s your birthday or some cousin is in town you don’t really want old drunks ogling your tetas and breathing on your beer.

As I headed in I saw Eleanor and Mom at a table in the bar with some strangers, Katharine and Dad were standing just to the right of the table with beers in their hands, talking. Julia was sitting at the bar, talking to the bartender. I went over and gave Dad a kiss hello and leaned over the table and kissed Mom on the cheek.

“Here she is, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the turncoat of Fourteenth Street. Don’t think for one second, my dear, that I’ve forgotten the absolute treachery that took place at St. Vincent’s.” He laughed and patted me on the back.

“Dad, that nurse specifically told me not to give you a pen.”

“Because they sure as hell knew I was going to take down their whole basement operation with it. What’ll you have? Beer?”

I nodded.

“Steve,” Mom chimed in, “you were like a wild beast in there. I don’t think you get it.”

“You could have killed someone with that chair, Dad,” Eleanor said.

“Killed someone? Eleanor, I would have enjoyed it. Oh, I was really out of it.”

Julia came over to the table and said in my ear, “That bartender is a total asshole.”

I looked over. I couldn’t tell if he was an asshole, but he was oldish and had a big butt.

“Why is he an asshole?”

“Because we’re talking and laughing and having a great time and I ask if he wants my number and he says, ‘I’m afraid I’ve got myself a girlfriend, love.’”

“And?”

“You don’t say that to a woman, Jeanne.”

“Why not?”

Dad came over and handed me my beer. I wondered if he had poisoned it, considering how mad he was about the fuckin’ pen.

“Because it’s rude.”

“It’s the truth.”

Julia laughed. “Okay, true. Let’s move on, shall we?”

Sipping my beer, I thought about a cigarette, but the place was so fucking smoky already it was killing my potential smoke.

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