Shorty went back to the bar, and the old man said, “See? Old men are special. I know it’s hard to believe, but some day you’re gonna miss me. Look at Shorty.”

I sipped my beer.

“You’ll know how much I cared about you and your brother. You think I wanted to get rid of you two? What for? I’m gonna throw wild parties like your friends? The family’s the most important thing in the world to me. You don’t break up the family.”

“Bullshit,” I said.

The old man sat up as if a spring had busted through his seat. I took another sip.

“What?”

“I said that’s bullshit.”

He grabbed my wrist. “You watch your fucking mouth.”

“Then stop lying to me. I’m sick of the family speech and your old man and all that shit.”

I pulled my hand away. The guys at the bar were listening to us so I lowered my voice.

“I know you were divorcing Ma when she died,” I said.

He stared at me for a moment and then sat back. “No,” he said softly, “you don’t know nothing.”

“Well then tell me!” I yelled, and the guys looked over again. “I want to know.”

The old man slowly stood up and took out his wallet. He threw some paper on the table and walked away. I followed him out to the lot.

“You always say I never say nothing. I’m talking now, Pop.” I grabbed his arm when he tried to climb into the car. “Pop,” I said.

“Your mother loved you and Jackie and that’s all you got to know,” he said.

“Okay, just forget it. If you can’t tell me everything then don’t tell me nothing.”

I headed back into the bar. The old man slammed the car door, and I stopped.

“Life ain’t a fucking fairy tale, buddy!” he said. “I got news for you. It ain’t Ozzie and Harriet, and things don’t always turn out the way you want. I loved your mother, but I couldn’t live with her after a while. She drove me fucking nuts, okay? That what you want to hear?”

He raked his fingers over his head and then scratched at his face.

“It was stupid to get married,” he said. “We weren’t made for each other, but I loved her at first sight and I was an idiot about it. I thought she’d become something she wasn’t. The woman was mentally ill. She was afraid of life. She never wanted to leave the house; for God’s sake she never even learned how to drive a car. It made me crazy. In almost twenty years, you know how many times we went out to dinner? Once. One time. On our tenth anniversary, that was it, we went to Dienno’s.”

The old man started to shake.