My Dad is a very special guy. Not short-bus special...but something else. I know that everyone considers their parents unique, or crazy, or eccentric, but mine..all of them ...really are.
I love my Dad. Of all my parents he makes me feel truly loved, cherished. That said, he's not exactly the leave-it-to-beaver-honey-I'm-home-kinda-guy.
In the 60s he was a criminal defense attorney. Then Mayor of Richmond CA, Then right-hand-man for his guru who he brought to Oakland from India in the 70s.
I am the product of a one night stand with his best friends daughter.
Yup, you read that right. I think I was a candidate to be flushed as an abortion, but she changed her mind.
Surprising I'm pro choice eh?
He is straight and has a penchant for skinny women and soft french cheese. He likes to party although his drug of choice is cheep white wine. He tells great stories and admits that some of them are lies, but they are wonderful. He is not a fan of animals kept as pets and particularly doesn't care for cats, seems to resent friends who care more for their pets than themselves, (although he does seem to secretly adore my big horse Fannie).
His "black book "(I'm quoting) reads like a who's who of of 60's bohemian culture. Only sad thing is that each time he loses it, which is often, he has to recreate all the contacts and each time and the list is getting smaller and smaller since all of his friends are dying off. Last year he lost his four best friends in 2 months. It was horrible. They lived hard, played hard, died a little early. Just early enough that they weren't wetting the bed yet.
As long as I have known my Dad he has spent his winter's in Asia. His third wife, the mother of my notably wonderful and brilliant brother Rio, left him a couple of years ago and he is less attached than ever, if not, perhaps just slightly depressed. I worry about him constantly, although he would probably be slightly insulted by my effort to lament over his safety. He usually comes home for the holidays and once in the summer. I just sent him an email checking in to see when he was coming home - this was his reply:
" not coming home anytime soon. have to take care of edna. somme friends were leaving and could not take care of their baby elephant edna. shes mine now. she has some pecu:aior [sic] habits. she isa just a baby so only litle kids can ride her. as son as the get on she sticks her trunk in theirpanties. the kids love it the parents go baslistic [sic]. i got arested for child molestation. my land lady is the chief administrator of the criminal courts she has me out in an hour telling the cops that only being they could arest was edna. "
70 + years as a free spirit with little obligation or attachment and he finally has a pet. and he got a fucking elephant. An elephant with a pantie fetish...
I don't know whether to be terrified for him or slightly jealous
1 comment:
I like your Dad. Send him to Australia and he can set up a tent in my back yard with all the others, (and his elephant)
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