Delores in the back. father leans over arid sw'itches on Ine raaio: PTeaictablJ'. franLic¢illy searchintr .tbe dial . for the local jazz station. His hon'ifi£d expression frG¢zes J explain, in the dpologeti.c tOTJe of a parent inforiiing the child that the iEe-cream ve'ndor won't be O ioming todav, that Los .41}LYeles' only jazz %tation is noThi defunct. But I bplieiie, l-say quickly. in an effort to smooth out the E47rinLles in'his face. that thete's 2nother nonc.onimerci"dl broadcast from one of the local univer- rities. His radar ever intact, he finds the broadcast,. His 5 finaers stop moi.ing only when ihe dial slides into lilek DaiFlS'S muted horn blaTing out at us. The disc jockey is spi4llino a recent composition. My father and l inhale dteply, both of us iiThniediaiely recogniziiitr the sionatllre horn, preiending we don't, my fDot and fin- 60 tTer.r tapping lo Ihe rliJFthm of genius. as we consciously sideEtep the polential ar(rLmeDt yie,engage' in frbm time to time reoarding. the. nierit of Mi.les's conlempoTary coniributions. My fathers jazz elitist and purist, .fMlY and L'nequivocally and inexorably theorize.s that the 6K le.geuda,-y Iiorll blos4'er hcis done absolutely nothino rnL1SjallV 'OrvhI]e recently. He sold out,. my father upnc:Ids. He'5 gr0Fing. I contradict. We can t and shouldn'l expect him to reppAt ivh&t be did ID the fifties PROSE FICTION: Thls passage is adapled.Irorn thr short Story "My Father's Son" by Steven Corbin {Q1 gQ6 by The Eslate of Qleven Corbir71,.which appeared in the anlhology Sli864light5.' Illuminaling Tal&s of the Urban Bl-ck Experiénce. Ilyhen J pick up mv father alld his girlfriend at Los Anuelcs J.ntern£ltional Airport he stops short 'J¢fore e,mbrdciiig me. blinks repeatedly in disbelief: S,.,.]eS or Smir1 crooLedl.y and tentalii.'cly, judgino me, <izing e 5 up tbi'outrh his tT2deinark horn-riillined glasset and uliraconseniative miid-browll es?e.s: i4ihich cut &Trn)edi- alely to the Thirs, dreadlncks bouiicillg aroiind fore- he2d, and his gldre that screams 117hai kEfLda trtrCiTd .yning you gone ond d.one io yourself this titne ? distui-bingly 10 familiar Jjet intimidatino and benevolerjt at the Rame time, reduces me, as it moqt often does deipite Tr.y thirt)ysomethin(r vears, to the little t)Ike in dunoarees and high-top sneaLe.rs I once was, ill diie need of my father's love. lind approiial. For weeks I was preocLU- 15 pied wiitb and E'exed myself over iyhat msr father ld I would possibly talk al)ollt for seven ddys aiid ceiten n.ighis, Constantls, beinG ioGether arjd SPI.10 each meal, sleeping ID the hoiise daJi.in. daiT Out. after our years of estrange.nie.nt sealed by an impromp;u rec- 20 onciliation. But now ihdt he.'s hei"e and we moi'.e iOWdTd one another, I suddenly aclcn4)wled{re that teven da)'s might not be. sufficient lime tLI encomp4$ all ihat we . have to say to each oiher. 70 Stu6 JiiFig mv faiher at red. liJts and throutsJi inW- .TiTient glances that punctuate our coniiersation, I r6al- ize: und.erst2nd. and accept, as I neiier have before, that be is indeed agincw Still remarkably handsome, even da8hino for hig middle age, his silky hair, short and 15 black and and parted at the side ag it ..aS the day he niuried my rkjother at age lilrentv. is his %ole physi- cal attribute th_at Jemains timeless. When I became a teenaoei-. Ih- -n seryued into youn(y adulthood, the matu- ration of niy trrollFEh having kicked in, sh2ping and 80 Jryola-DO the aL4lllt face through which l Uiould see the 4iorld: a fac.e Lhat would pr2tts' rnuch sta): the. same foT- ei'er diAd -IIAla!.'o people benan ph.vFically Lomparints me io r,), ia¥ner, a coffjparisoij il'took me aiiihile to Lrei L4¢eo to. Eiien b5, tnotlisr Mioula. loolc at nie, ohake her 85 head. fiTIAI -% ¢he"h.Iysm-j&if4med. to her%elf at the alleaed t2r_I re.<eTii blanc" could neiier oee. I'ou are siour -r s JO.ri ¢11 rioht: she-d sav. His girlfriend DeloI'es sLoop£ me up in her arras, 23 delihted to see nie agaia. Mv father stands off to the gide, neTvousI}i awaitiiig his tiirn, large: rucged, cal- lused bands thrust deep incide his pants pocketi as" he ches hirnqelf up for a fleetin£: ep,4emeral r,oment of intimacy witb anoiher adult male. Surprising me, he 30 locks me in an eTnbrace tliat is both inacho and compa<_ S30nate dnd he doesn'l let go first: whicli is fo&eiorJ to me since I can coullt: on orje hand, tlie paucity c,r occa- ions w."hen m), fatlier has embraced me: ano in his louch I cali feel, almost P<Llpably, his Éri8tifibaiion in 35 seein cr his firsiborij fnr Lbe firf t time SiDce tTh,'o Clrif l_ m&.£es ago. Before leaving the terminal, Delores -ItLiSts upon takino a photo of us: fatbjer and son: ddv Ofie of ie arriiral, n3), arm wi-opped around him aad ihe -. i=id- ity of his pose: the tlél Iitening o.f his Tr.US¥2les a 40 talltDess of his spine, Ihat won't be C&nbD.Ired bv tije camera's uperture and recorded on th- Cèlluloid. l. The central concern presented in the passage is: that they. .,111 never oet alontr the reunion and recollcilialion between a father and a son. a fadier's first impression of the city llrhere hig son has chosen to live. eptions he holds about his son.
