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from Meeting Dad by Brian Russell

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“Brian Russell,” the voice said. “Well I’ll be!”

“This is your son,” I said.

“Well, I surely know that! Hello son. What a pleasant surprise.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my mother slip out of the room.

I can’t begin to relate with any level of accuracy the balance of this conversation. I was nervous and aware of a tension in my body and a shaking in my voice I’d never experienced before.

He was thrilled to hear from me. His voice exuded warmth and he spoke in a slow and slightly Southern drawl. His interest in me was disarming and I found it difficult to hold on to my anger. I could hear that he was smiling, and now, despite the years of anger and hurt, I wanted nothing more than to see that smile.

As if he were reading my mind, he said, “Well, I’d sure love for you and your brother to come down and visit me. Meet my wife Janey, your sister Dana, and your younger brother Dirk.”

While it’s hard to say precisely what I’d expected from this phone call, I was certainly surprised that he’d so quickly offered to fly my brother and me down to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Just as soon as we could come.

I told him that I’d have to talk to Mom and Dad first, but that I’d very much like to visit. He told me to feel free to call him collect anytime and secured my phone number in order to be able to reject the collect charges and call me back directly.

As the call came to an end, I agreed that I would be in touch soon with an answer regarding his proposal that we visit. He ended the call with what I soon learned was a trademark phrase of his, “Well, good enough.”

And then he said, “I love you, son.”

I simply exhaled, “Bye.” Not “Bye, Dad.” Not “Bye, Bob.” I didn’t know what to call him.

–Brian Russell,
Meeting Dad
Accents Publishing

More from Meeting Dad and Brian Russell:

Brian RussellBrian 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.

from Meeting Dad by Brian Russell

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Meeting Dad

I held the small, blue piece of paper in my hand. In my mother’s instantly recognizable cursive, I read the name Bob Jaycox and his address in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico? I thought. What an exotic place. Below the address in Mom’s left-handed slanted script were ten numbers. Ten numbers that might end eleven years of estrangement from my father.

I dialed zero.

The operator answered, and in as strong a voice as I could muster, I began, “Yes, I’d like to make a person-to-person collect call.”

“What number sir?”

I gave her the number.

“For whom are you calling?”

“Bob Jaycox.”

“And who shall I say is calling?”

“Brian Weston Russell.”

I used my middle name because I was afraid he might not know who I was if I simply said Brian Russell.

After a moment, the phone began to ring.

A woman with a strong Southern accent answered. The operator droned, “I have a person-to- person collect call for Bob Jaycox from Brian Weston Russell. Is Mr. Jaycox available?”

Silence.

The lady with the accent stammered, “Yes, uh, yes he is. Will you hang on a minute?”

“I’ll hold,” the operator replied in her detached voice.

A few seconds later, I heard a voice say, “This is Bob Jaycox.”

The operator repeated her spiel, and after the briefest of pauses, he said, “Well, I surely will!”

The operator told me that we were connected. Indeed, after all this time, we now were.

–Brian Russell,
Meeting Dad
Accents Publishing

More from Meeting Dad and Brian Russell:

Brian RussellBrian 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.

from Meeting Dad by Brian Russell

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About an hour later, Mom and Dad ushered me into Dad’s study. It was a cluttered room filled with floor-to-ceiling bookcases overflowing with books. Every surface in the room was covered in piles of books, magazines, large manila envelopes, and dozens of lined yellow pads of paper. This was Dad’s inner sanctum and a place that was absolutely offlimits to the kids. He’d told us on more than one occasion that if he caught us in his study, “the belt will wail tonight.” (He borrowed that line from a Bill Cosby routine, but none of us doubted that he meant it. Nor did we think it was funny when he said it.)

Being allowed to use the study didn’t mean I could sit in Dad’s desk chair. That was still strictly off-limits. Rather, he pulled a chair into the sacred room and cleared a small section of the desk, moving the phone so I could reach it from where I sat. Scott listened in on the upstairs phone. Mom stood behind me.

–Brian Russell,
Meeting Dad
Accents Publishing

More from Meeting Dad and Brian Russell:

Brian RussellBrian 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.