More Like Wrestling by Danyel Smith

Author:Danyel Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307421296
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2007-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

OSCAR’ S dad was on the balcony watering his tomatoes. He had basil and curly parsley, too. Paige was talking to him.

The sun was August frank, and relentless. I sat on the edge of a planter, bending basil leaves in half and holding them to my nose. Warm as it was, Oscar’s father had a steaming mug in his hand, cigarette smoke seeping through his teeth. His recovery was amazing to me.

On one day over a year before, Oscar’s father had apologized to Oscar for everything he’d ever done to him. It took a whole day and into the night. Oscar hadn’t believed his father, had challenged him for weeks about dozens of crimes against himself and his mother. Oscar said stuff like, I know you don’t even remember the time you made me sleep outside on the porch it was November I was nine I was crying I could hear Mom screaming at you like you were trying to murder her she was crying I was yelping like a little punk banging on the screen door. Mrs. Dennis from across the street came over tried to take me to her house she had on that same tired sweatsuit she always wore you told her to leave me the fuck alone told her if she called the police you’d burn down her yellow house with all her dead mother’s things in it. You told her she’d be standing there, with a piece of your world, and hers would be in ashes around her ankles. You got in her face and told her you would do it and feel no pain. Do you remember that?

Paige was there and so was I, and Oscar’d said—looking cold at his father, who sat there giving his son unfaltering eye contact right back— That’s what I’m talking about, Paige. That kind of shit. Paige! he’d yelled, and finally looked at her, mouth dry and tight like sweetness had never existed for him, like for my brother-in-law there’d only been rind and wrapping paper. I was astounded. Paige and I watched them like they were a television program.

Oscar’s father said, ‘I remember that. I remember that. I’m sorry. You were a baby—’

Oscar said, ‘I was not a baby.’ He took a deep breath and said, ‘I. Was. Nine. You—’

‘I made you stay out there all night. I was high.’

‘Did you watch me? Did you know I wasn’t dead or snatched? It was fucking freezing, I was up under the doormat.’

‘Your mother watched you. Your mother—’

‘Have you apologized to her? Have you got right with her?’

‘Not yet, Oscar, but I’m going to. You have—’

Oscar interrupted his father, and Oscar’s father let him, and after weeks went by Oscar told Paige that his father needed to stay for a while, indefinitely.

He arrived at their apartment on a Sunday when Paige was washing towels and the kitchen rugs. Winston in his mouth, he took the dirty things from her, laundered them and all the sheets and blankets in the house with detergent, color-safe bleach, and fabric softener.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.