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Chapters (23)
  1. Cover
  2. AMERICAN SON
  3. AMERICAN SON
  4. Dedication
  5. Copyright
  6. Contents
  7. AMERICAN SON
  8. PART ONE
  9. Balikbayan
  10. Chapter One
  11. Chapter Two
  12. PART TWO
  13. AMERICAN SON
  14. Chapter One
  15. Chapter Two
  16. Chapter Three
  17. PART THREE
  18. A Dirty Penance
  19. Chapter One
  20. Chapter Two
  21. Chapter Three
  22. Chapter Four
  23. Acknowledgements

It is with concern that I read of your sons’ behavior. In fact, the last time I had seen Tomas I worried greatly even then. You will recall that I suggested to you then that he come to live in the Philippines with me where I could send him to a true Catholic school, one with discipline and supervision, not as those permissive ones which you will find in America. Also, as you know, Millie has a special acquaintance with Professor Inuesto of Ateneo, and Father Reyoso could be of help in gaining admittance for your son(s) as well.

I think you are right to worry about Tomas’s influence on his younger brother. It is with great anxiety that I read both of his imitation in dress of his older brother and of their increased fighting. It has been a long time since Gabe has lived in the Philippines. He was very young when he left, and perhaps he does not have a strong sense of his place in this world. Such quiet children can be very impressionable.

I might take this opportunity to suggest that you reconsider and send them here. At Ateneo there would be not only Filipino children but also other mestizos. The problems of kidnapping are greatly exaggerated, mostly confined to Chinese Filipinos, and though the crime is great in Manila generally, here in Forbes Park we are very secluded. I realize that you would not wish to part company with Gabe or Tomas, but it is still possible for you to return to Manila as well. Our country really is not as bad a place as some expatriate Balikbayans might suggest.

I hope to hear from you in the near future on this matter.

You and your sons are in our prayers always.

Love,
Your brother Betino

AMERICAN SON

Somewhere, in
Another California
July 1993

Chapter One

I

When my brother wakes up and finds his best breeding dog gone—the one he most loves—and then steps out and finds his 1984 white Oldsmobile missing, it will be a good thing I am out of the San Fernando basin before dawn. Some mornings are like no other. As I drive down the north side of the Los Padres Mountains with a line of semitrailer headlights inching up the opposite lane, the desert spreads out flat before me. The lights of Bakersfield still glitter like an oasis lake reflecting stars I can barely see in the early morning light, and to the left rise the faintly visible Sierra Madres, whose snowy tops catch the still not risen sun.