the consequences

the doctor on saturday attempted to dig the bead that nicholas stuffed into his ear. gently she did, but the bead wouldn't budge. then two nurses tried to sluice it out with water. no go. suddenly one of the nurses said, a ha, and left the room. she returned a few seconds later with a set of alligators clippers and made a show of unpacking it from its sterilized packaging for the benefit of nicholas who was in awe of the instrument. three seconds later the bead was out of the boy's ear and in his hand.

when the doctor asked nicholas how and why he put a plastic bead in his ear the child responded, i wasn't thinking of the consequences.

later we had a lovely evening at the state fair. attendance must be way down perhaps because of the down economy. usually packed shoulder to shoulder the fairgrounds were lightly populated and navigating from site to site was a breeze. the weather was breezy and cool. my father and his wife are volunteers and have worked at the fair for a few years now. they started by volunteering to be shadowing the police as the police made their rounds. cal expo has its own police force and even has holding cells and their are times when the police are sorely needed at the state fair. their also been complaints about the police so my father and l. would observe both the police and the public and report if anything went down between the cops and the public. nothing rarely went down.

this year they worked a booth at the farm exhibit giving away organic juice, chips and fruit and vegetables. no matter how light attendance might be when giving away free stuff people will line up all the time. my old man and l. were deeply happy to see us, especially nicholas and we had dinner and a long, leisurely conversation after their shift was over and the farm exhibit closed up.

my old man wears a big straw fedora type hat. kinda like a trademark. can't be seen without it. he lamented not being able to do any skydives because of his work at the fair. he nearly fell over in surprise when we were gabbing and said to me, hey now your 41. i corrected him. i'm 42, i said. oh shit, that's right, he laughed, i'm 62!

we are exactly 20 years apart. he took off his hat. his hair is white now. but if i might add a cool looking white. i don't have long before my own hair will be the same. when i laugh i can hear his voice in mine as i can feel my father in some of my own body movements. there comes a point in our lives, in my life at any rate, where we become our parents, not just in attitude but physically and mentally too. we are not without our own history, some of it quite painful and difficult. but there i sat next to my father who is as physically affectionate to me still in my early 40s as i am to nicholas and anna. i think i get that from my old man. one of the consequences i guess of my being his son.