Kenny returned bearing two glasses of beer. He stretched out in the booth. “What a family. Bennett and all his military bullshit and Linda acting like Scarlett O’Hara and the kid-Bryce-I had some hope for him, though. I’d see him at the library a lot when he was in high school.”

“I thought he was a football player.”

“Just because you don’t like sports, you think everybody who plays is an idiot.” Kenny loved football games.

“You’re right. That was a stupid thing to say.”

“God, I must’ve caught you on an off night.”

“Nah. I’m just worried about my dad. I was just being sanctimonious because I’m in a bad mood, I guess.”

“I need to pick up Sue pretty soon here. Maybe you should stop by and see your folks.”

Gloom tends to paralyze me. I can sit and brood for long angry hours. Between the ruined peace rally and my mom’s whispers over the phone this afternoon, I felt alone and useless. Kenny’s suggestion got me going again.

“Thanks for saying that.”

“Saying what?”

“To go see my folks.”

“Yeah, that was a pretty brilliant idea if I say so myself.”

“Make a joke, asshole. It’s what I needed to hear.”

He pushed out of the booth and stood up. “I’m going to start charging you for these ideas I have.” Then he was gone.

There was a time when my mother was eager to tell my father which TV show she wanted to watch. And he was just as eager to tell her which show he preferred. As near as I could figure, they pretty much split even on their respective TV choices.

But now as they sat in the living room, I saw they were watching a Western show called Laredo, which meant that my mother would not be seeing Bewitched, which was on at the same time. She wanted the shrunken man next to her on the couch to see whatever he wanted. Though neither of us ever said it out loud, my mother and I knew that my father’s heart condition would take his life any time now. Of course the doctors had told him three different times over the past four years that he was about to die. But this time it felt different. It felt scary.