"How do I look?" my dad said as he ran his hand over his smooth chin.
It took a while before I could answer. "You look good, Dad. But what's going on?"
"I got a job, Chance. A real job. Medical benefits, dental benefits, sick days, vacation time." He looked at his watch. "In fact, I start in an hour. That girlfriend of yours. Melissa. Her father and me were good friends in high school. But you know that, don't you?"
"You called Melissa's father?" I said.
"No, he called the marina office and they came and got me. It's nothing special. I'm a janitor at his office building downtown, that's all. Nights and Saturdays. I'll mop the floors and empty the trash. Not exactly what I had in mind for myself when I was your age, but it'll keep me going once you're gone and on your own." He paused. "And that brings me to something else. Isn't it about time you told me just what it is you're going to do once you graduate?"
I looked at him with his clean clothes, his clean hair, his clean face and hands, his new job. "I'm going to enlist," I said.
"In what?" he said.
"The army, just like you did. I got a brochure at school a couple of months ago. It makes sense for me."
He nodded. "I guess it does. I just wish all this stuff wasn't going on in the Middle East."
"So do I," I said.
"They'll give you money for college when you get out. Use it for college. You hear me? Don't get some pretty girl pregnant and end up married before you're ready."
"Is that what happened with you and Mom?"
"That's what happened. I don't mean that I wish you weren't born, Chance. I only mean—" He paused, then started again. "I only mean that I don't want you to end up like me."
I wish I'd said something then, something about how he was OK by me, but I didn't.
He looked at his watch again. "I got to go. I can't be late my first day." He smiled. "Maybe on day two, but not the first day."
He turned to leave. "Can I ask you something?" I said.
"What?"
"Why'd you get kicked out of the service?"
He laughed. "Drinking, fighting, missing curfews. Nothing big, but string together a whole bunch of stupid little things and you can do yourself in."
"But you didn't ever run away in battle, or anything like that?"
The smile disappeared. "Is that what you thought? No, Chance, I never ran away. I was a good soldier under fire. It was the other times I had trouble with."
After he left, I realized I hadn't told him about Burdett and the packages and the guys in the sport coats on the boardwalk by the duck pond. But that was OK. In fact, I couldn't remember why I'd ever wanted to tell him. After all, what could he do for me? What could anyone do for me? I'd gotten into this by myself; I'd have to get out of it the same way.