back for dinner

jessica greenberg

spring 2016

It was 11AM when Danny decided to stop pretending he was asleep, got out of the inflatable bed he uses when he visits the grandparents, and saw a note his father had taped on the bedroom door: “I went out. Be back for dinner at 6.” But when it was time for dinner, his father had not returned. Thus the grandparents and Danny went to the restaurant without him, a little confused, but not too concerned. At 11PM, with no word from him, they started to worry. At 1AM, unable to fall asleep, Danny turned on Pirates of the Caribbean. In the adjacent room, the grandmother lay in her bed staring at the ceiling. She was still fully clothed, ready to run out at a moment’s notice, and carefully listening for the jingle of the chain on the front door. The grandfather tried to commiserate, but it was too clear he only wanted to go to sleep. At 5AM Danny’s father called on Skype. He said he was back in Spain and just got off his 7-hour flight from New York. He explained that an anonymous man, related to the FBI, called him in the morning and told him, “There are some people that want to get you in trouble. You should leave the country as soon as you can,” so he left the country as soon as he could. The grandparents were baffled, but thankful he was OK. Danny was pissed off that he had been abandoned by his father during their vacation in New York, but unconcerned with his sudden disappearance.  Danny decided to celebrate his newfound freedom by buying a new PS2.