“I go to work every day. I pretty much play by the rules. But you know, some things, some of the bad habits I picked up along the way, and especially the experience of being locked up-”
“I know. It’s hard to shake.”
“Me and Ali went out to Pine Ridge today. Ali had some work stuff to take care of out there, and I joined him. Bein back in my unit, looking into my cell, it hit me kinda hard. It’s tough to get that monster off your back. Wasn’t easy for Ben, either.”
“You telling me that you and Ben slipped back into some criminal thing?”
“No. I already told you; Ben didn’t do anything wrong.”
“So those two men were here because of a card debt.”
“Yes.”
“Bullshit,” said Flynn.
The two of them sat there and drank. Flynn finished his and went to the fridge and got another. He caught a look from Chris as he retook his seat.
“You should slow down,” said Chris. “You gotta drive home.”
“Fuck that,” said Flynn. “I’m a grown man, and you sound like your mother.”
Flynn took a long pull from his bottle.
“I’m not comin in for a few days,” said Chris. “I need some time off.”
“How you gonna pay your gambling debt if you don’t work? What about the vig? Isn’t that what you guys call it?”
“There is no vig.”
“On account of there’s no debt. ’Cause this card game thing is bullshit.”
Chris chuckled. “You can’t let it go, can you?”
“That’s all right,” said Flynn, his eyes a bit unfocused. He drank off more of his beer. “You’ll tell me the truth when you’re ready, I guess. I don’t wanna pressure you or nothin like that.”
“Can I say something else?”
“Go ’head.”
“When I come back to work, I’m not wearing that polo shirt anymore. I’ll wear anything you want, but not that. Me and Ben, we never liked those things. They reminded us of our uniforms at the Ridge. Is that all right?”
Flynn could not look at Chris. He said, “Yes, Chris. It’s fine.”
Chris cleared his throat. “I’m…”
“What?”
“I’m thinking of taking a class or two, spring semester, over at Montgomery College. American history.”
“That’s nice,” said Flynn. And because he was his father, he added, “What would you do with that?”
“Just check it out and see what happens, I guess,” said Chris. “Maybe work toward a teaching degree. I dunno. Things are gettin kind of serious between Katherine and me. If I’m gonna be, you know, responsible for someone else… I’m sayin, I don’t want to be installing carpet all my life.”
“I don’t want that for you, either.”
“Anyway.”
“Yeah.”
Flynn got up and went to the kitchenette and stood over its sink. He drank deeply of his beer, took a breath, and finished what was left. He placed the bottle along a row of empties on the counter and walked toward the front door.
“I’m outta here, Chris.”
“Dad?”
Flynn stopped walking. “Yeah.”
“Thanks for coming. When I called, I mean.”
Flynn stared at Chris, his eyes sad and knowing. Now would be the time to say the words that needed to be said, but he could not. He waved and walked out the door.
Chris stared at the bottle in his hand. He drank from it, his chest heavy with emotion.
Flynn stood at his bar cart and poured three fingers of Beam into a rocks glass. He sipped at the bourbon and felt it bite as Amanda came into the dining room. Her eyes traveled over him and flickered away.
“I’m just having one before bed,” said Flynn.
“I didn’t say a word.”
“What would Jesus have done, Amanda? If he’d had a son like ours, I mean. Do you think Jesus might have a drink once in a while, just to take the edge off?”
Amanda hugged her arms. “What happened?”
“Nothing. I got there and whatever was going on was over. Chris says he’s in a little trouble over a gambling debt.”
“Chris doesn’t gamble. Does he?”
“No idea. But he’s lying about what went down tonight. Still lying to me, after everything we’ve been through.”
“Maybe there’s a reason.”
“He was mixed up with Ben on something. Ben was killed because of it, and Chris won’t tell me or anyone else what it’s about. That’s the reason, Manda. Chris fucked up again. He’s into something wrong.”
“You don’t know that.”
“And you’re blind. You always have been.”
“At least I didn’t give up on him.”
“Yes, you did. Call it nurturing if you want to put a sweet name to it, but to me, you just gave up. Because you stopped expecting anything from him. I never did.”
“He’s our child.”
“He’s a man. And I can’t accept what he is. I won’t.”
“Give him a chance.”
“I always have,” said Flynn. “And I’m not the only one. You remember that time he broke into those cars in the parking lot of that Tex-Mex place on Wisconsin?”
“Tuco’s,” said Amanda. The owner of the restaurant had called them at home. His people had watched Chris do the crime on live camera. He’d been caught by a couple of employees and brought back into the kitchen. Her husband had told the owner he’d make restitution when he picked Chris up.
“When I got there,” said Flynn, “I went up the stairs with these Mexicans, or whatever they were, to this little security room they had with video monitors in it, on the second floor. In the dining room of that restaurant the waitstaff was dressed in bright outfits, the music was festive, and everyone was smiling. Y’know, one of those happy ethnic eating experiences for white people in Ward Three. But up in that room these guys looked like some rough Spanish dudes who’d just had a well-to-do kid come to their business establishment and ruin that experience for their customers. I mean, these guys were hot. I had to beg them not to call the police. And I had to stand there with them and watch a tape of my son in that lot, looking around and hesitating before he made the decision to break into those cars. I was saying, ‘Don’t do it, Chris. Please, don’t do it.’ But he had al ready done it. I was watching a tape of something that had happened an hour earlier. Those Mexicans must have thought I was nuts.”
“What difference does it make now?”
“The point is, I gave him plenty of chances. The guy who owned the restaurant, he gave the kid a chance that day, too. Chris just kept on screwing up.”
“That was ten years ago.”
“Right.” Flynn swirled bourbon and looked into the glass. “You’ll be happy to know that he’s making plans, at least. Says he’s going to take a couple of classes at Montgomery College in the spring. And apparently he’s serious about Kate.”
“That’s wonderful,” said Amanda.
“His blue area’s finally catching up to his green area.”
“What?”
“Reasoning and emotion. The limbic system and the prefrontal cortex. Remember Dr. Peterhead’s
