My Father Said I Was An Accident At A Family Barbecue Until I Responded

to treating because she thought clover was pretty. Thirty-one heads turned. The kid with the sparklers stopped waving it. The charcoal in my father’s new Weber grill went on smoking behind him like a halo he hadn’t earned.

I didn’t flinch.

I said, “Funny. Mom told me something different before she died. Want me to read her letter?”

His hand started shaking.continue reading …