Buddha in a Teacup by Todd Walton

Author:Todd Walton
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781619027657
Publisher: Soft Skull Press
Published: 2016-01-11T16:00:00+00:00

JASON FILLS A coffee mug with gin and downs the booze in a single gulp. Thus primed, he uncorks a bottle of red wine and walks through the house drinking directly from the bottle. Unconscious of his transit, he stands in the backyard, the wine bottle empty, his daughter’s letter crumpled in his hand.

With a painful effort, he lowers himself onto a plastic chaise longue beside the neglected swimming pool—the water dense with algae—and wonders why he doesn’t feel the least bit drunk. His stomach gurgles plaintively, and across the chasm of years he hears himself saying to Gina, “You’re nothing but a filthy whore. I wish you were dead.”

He uncrumples the letter and reads it again.

Dear Mother and Father,

I have just returned from a pilgrimage to Tibet. Before I return to my home in California, I will be giving talks in New York and Philadelphia, and one at the theological school at Harvard, which means I’ll only be an hour’s train ride from you. I would very much like to visit you.

My name is now Ina and I am a horticulturist and a writer. I live in a Buddhist community with my husband, John, and our children Leo and Viva. Leo is twenty-three, Viva is nineteen. Shortly after Viva’s last birthday, I fell into a severe depression. After several weeks of misery, I determined the cause of my suffering was my attachment to you and the events surrounding our parting shortly after I turned nineteen.

I will call before traveling to see you. If you would rather I did not come, I won’t, though I think a reunion would be beneficial for all of us.

With blessings and love,

Ina

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