San Francisco has everything he needs—women and drink at a price he can afford, theaters and roles to play, and June. Especially June. He never establishes the closeness to this brother that he has with Rosalie, Asia, Johnny, and even Joe. But June took charge of Father while they crossed the Isthmus. He can keep right on doing that. Edwin’s been sprung.

“Father doesn’t care about me,” Edwin tells June. “Never has.” He sheds those years of watchfulness like a snake shedding a skin. He doesn’t recognize himself.

Now he’s the one who shows up to rehearsals inebriated and unprepared. Now Father is the one stewing and scolding. A visible tension crackles between the two, evident to the whole company, who find Edwin sullen and rebellious. He’s to play the part of Richmond—the weary sun has made a golden set—and Father is impatient with his lethargy. “Point to the setting sun,” Father says. “Don’t just mouth your lines. Do something!”

Edwin throws his hand mockingly into the air. There. “When can we go out?” he asks. “I want to see the city.” June sides with Father. Edwin, he says, must get serious. He’s not a genius like their father. He’s not so talented he needn’t work.

Once being an actor was the thing Edwin wanted most in the world. Now he acts because it’s all he knows. Perhaps if he hadn’t spent those formative years with Father, he would, like most adolescents, have tried on this personality and that until he found the one that fit best. He might have learned to be comfortable in the role of Edwin Booth. Instead, Edwin has come to prefer being someone, anyone else.

Traveling with Father has been his burden, but also his apprenticeship. He’s learned, better than anyone, that for a few magical moments, you trade in bad food, bad beds, and bad times.

Still, there are magical moments. Edwin knows that, too.

—

The money June predicted doesn’t materialize. Early critics are kind—The San Francisco Daily Herald describes Father as “a splendid ruin,” “magnificent even in decay.” But as the tour continues—up to Sacramento, where floods close the theaters and the heat is unbearable, and back to San Francisco, where he performs so drunk that he falls onstage repeatedly—the reviews sour. Father lasts two months. He’s brought in no money, but still demands payment in full from June, an exorbitant sum that all but wipes June out. He leaves San Francisco one foggy morning with heavy pockets and bad feelings on all sides.