Shaking her head slightly, she explained, “No, I didn’t get his number from the court, but I do have it.”

“Oh.”

“Some months ago your Uncle Ben told me that he’d read in a Cornell Alumni newsletter that Bob was living in San Juan, Puerto Rico,” she began.

“Puerto Rico?” I interrupted. “I’ve never known anyone from Puerto Rico.”

“Anyway,” she continued, “a few weeks later I was in the U.B. library and I happened to notice rows and rows of phone books from all over the country. I don’t know what made me do this, but I found the phone book for Puerto Rico, looked him up, and jotted down his number and address. I don’t know why I did it, but I did.”

“Well, I want to call him,” I said. “There are things I need to know.”

A short pause. “What do you hope to learn?”

I bit my left thumbnail and stared at its jagged edge.

“What if he somehow, I don’t know, rejects you?” she asked.

“He’s been rejecting me for eleven years. I think I’m sort of used to it by now,” I shot back. I took a breath and lowered my voice. “Mom, at least I’ll know that I made an effort. At least I’ll know that I tried, which is more than I can say for him.”

“You sound angry.”

“Of course I’m angry! But, it’s not as if I’m going to call him up and yell at him. I just want to ask him if he ever thinks of us. I want to ask why he’s never been in touch with us.”

After another short silence, I asked, “So can I have his number?”

“Of course,” she said. “I’ll go get it for you.”

Mom walked over to me, put her arms on my shoulders, and kissed the top of my head.

“Thank you,” I said.

–Brian Russell,
Meeting Dad (2010)
Accents Publishing

More from Meeting Dad and Brian Russell:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Meeting Dad reviewed by Barry George
• Meeting Dad at the Accents Store
• Meeting Dad at GoodReads

Brian Russell spent more than 20 years working in the theater as a director and producer of plays, musicals, and operas before shifting his focus toward writing. He was artistic director of Chicago’s American Theater Company from 1997-2002, where he directed more than a dozen shows. In 2007, he graduated with honors with a BGS from Roosevelt University, where his short story, “Rutherford” won the first Annual Keenan-Kara Writing Award. In May 2010, he graduated from Spalding University’s brief residency MFA in Writing Program. His prose, poetry, and critiques have recently been published at Public Republic and at the review review.