by Nina Revoyr
And then, the rest of it, which he’d tell him soon after. For two years, on and off, the man had been arguing with the boy’s mother over telling the boy the truth about his parentage. The boy had a right to know, he felt, and things would make sense that way—the business was being passed on from father to son. But the mother had argued that it wouldn’t be fair—to the boy or to her husband, who still didn’t know—and she’d refused flat out the man’s every appeal. But the man couldn’t hold it any longer. While he respected the woman’s wishes, he couldn’t help himself anymore, and now that the boy was finally out of his mother’s house, the man felt that the time was right. The man didn’t know how he’d tell him, and he didn’t know where or when, or what he’d say. But he almost shook with joy at the simple, solid prospect of finally being able to claim his son. He tried not to think about what would happen if the boy reacted badly—he’d been silent too long to worry about the consequences now. All the stories and lessons and history he’d passed on to the boy. All the things that belonged not only to him, but also to his child.
A few minutes later, as the two of them were checking all the windows, the man said, “Listen, son. When this is all over, there’s a couple of things I need to tell you.”
The boy looked at him quizzically—the man seemed so intent and serious—and just then, several people entered the store. It was the other boys—the two who still worked there and the older one who used to, and a couple of younger boys, the little brothers. One of the older boys, the Japanese one, waved his arms excitedly.
“Some stores are getting looted on Western,” he said. “You better hurry up and shut down.”
The man nodded. “Go home. Get home as fast as you can. And stay there with your families until everything’s quiet.”
They didn’t want to go, but he shooed them out, all of them, even the one he loved. Then he rushed around, checking all the windows again. He went out the front door, locked and bolted it behind him, and quickly walked the four blocks to his house.
The boys had taken off in the opposite direction, but now one of them, the one who’d been in the store that morning, stopped short in his tracks. “We can’t just leave it,” he said. “If no one’s there to defend it, it’s gonna get torn apart.”
“Well, that’s a chance we gotta take,” one of the other boys replied. “I mean, damn, you know? Better it than us.”
“Don’t be such a fuckin pussy,” said the Japanese boy. “He’s right. We should go back and stay there in case some fool tries to burn it down.”
“No one’s gonna do that. People love the store. They need it.”
“That don’t matter when folks are upset.”
“Well, I don’t care what you all do,” the first boy said. “I’m going back. I’ll see you assholes later.”
He took off down the sidewalk. The Japanese boy followed. The remaining boys all looked at each other, and then the oldest one said, “Aw, shit.” He walked down the sidewalk after the first boy, and the two younger ones ran to keep up. The other boy watched them go, and then went home.
The first boy, hearing all the footsteps behind him, smiled and kept on walking. They were going back to defend the store he loved. He hoped the man would be proud of him, even though he was disobeying orders; he was trying to take care of the only place where either of them felt at peace. And as he kept walking, and then jogging, down the sidewalk toward the store, he thought about the man, the strange intensity in his voice just before the other boys came in, and wondered what he’d been planning to tell him.
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NINA REVOYR was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and a PolishAmerican father, and grew up in Japan, Wisconsin, and Los Angeles. She is the author of one previous novel, The Necessary Hunger. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT PAGE
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE: 1994
CHAPTER TWO: LOIS—1994, 1963
CHAPTER THREE: 1994
CHAPTER FOUR: MARY, 1947
CHAPTER FIVE: 1994
CHAPTER SIX: JIMMY, 1962
CHAPTER SEVEN: 1994
CHAP
TER EIGHT: FRANK, 1939
CHAPTER NINE: 1994
CHAPTER TEN: FRANK, 1942–1948
CHAPTER ELEVEN: CURTIS AND ALMA, 1961
CHAPTER TWELVE: 1994
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: FRANK AND CURTIS, 1963
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: 1994
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: KENJI, 1955
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: 1994
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: CURTIS AND ANGELA—1962, 1963
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: 1994
CHAPTER NINETEEN: FRANK, 1976
CHAPTER TWENTY: 1994
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: JIMMY, 1963
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: LOIS, 1965
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: 1994
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: CURTIS—1963, 1965
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: 1994
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: 1963
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: VICTOR, 1942–1955
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: 1994
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: 1945
CHAPTER THIRTY: 1994
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: FRANK, 1985
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: 1965, 1994
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: 1965
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: 1994
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: JULY, 1946
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: 1994
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN: 1965
