Hold Me Close, Let Me Go: A Mother, A Daughter And An Adolescence Survived - Adair Lara - Hardcover - 1 ED

> MORGAN was still asleep, though it was almost eleven. The light from > her > west-facing window washed the top half of her face and her tumbled > hair, the > same brownish-blond as her brother Patrick's. One pink foot stuck out. > I sat > on the edge of the bed and shook it. > > > "Mom, I was sleeping." She smiled lazily at me. > > > "Is it true that last night you and Tara went into Dolores Park?" > > > "Mom, what are you talking about?" Morgan, caught off guard, sat up, > trying > for an expression of injured innocence. > > > "Did you?" > > > "What park?" > > > "Dolores. Where the drug dealers hang out." > > > "Well, yes, but we were totally safe." She said it with a little > shrug. > > > "What about the beer?" I said in a tight voice. "Tara said something > about a > six-pack." > > > "It was just sitting in a bag in a parking lot. I didn't drink any of > the > beer. It was sour. I just sprayed it on the ground. God, Mom. You're > overreacting, just the way Daddy always does." She slumped down, then, > in a > sudden change of mood, grinned at me. "It was worth it. It was the > most fun > I ever had in my life. The only problem was getting caught." > > > "Fun? You could have been raped or murdered, two young girls out on > the > streets. Don't you remember those two girls on Potrero Hill who were > just > standing on a corner when a gang of boys took them off to a shed and > raped > them five or six times each? They were only thirteen, like you and > Tara." > > > "I'll be fourteen in two months, and anyway my friends wouldn't let > anything > happen to me," Morgan said confidently. "If anybody tried to hurt us, > we'd > kick them in the you know where." > > > I was getting nowhere, so I stood up. Having a thirteen-year-old was > like > having your own personal brick wall. The phone rang. I found it under > a pile > of junk on Morgan's floor. > > > "Hello?" > > > "Hello!" said a familiar gravelly voice. > > > "Dad?" > > > "In the flesh." > > > "Where are you?" > > > "In the valley, in my hidey hole." > > > "Your hidey hole?" My head was still full of Morgan. It had been years > since > I'd seen my father or heard his voice. I swallowed. "How long have you > been > back?" > > > "Couple of months. I was wondering if you could find it in your heart > to > come out here today to see your poor old dad." > > > "I can't. I'm on deadline." I wrote a column for the San Francisco > Chronicle > on Tuesdays and Thursdays. "And the kids start school tomorrow." > > > "I know you're busy, but I need you to come out here. Jesus Christ, I > haven't laid eyes on you in five years. For all I know, you're > taller." > > > "Dad, I told you . . ." > > > "Besides, it's an emergency." > > > "An emergency?" I couldn't help the frosty tone of my voice. "Are you > in > jail?" > > > "No, I'm not in jail. Tell you when you get here." > > > "Hey, let me talk to my grandpa!" Morgan yelled. > > > "Shush! I can't hear him!" > > > My dad had said something, but I missed it. "I'm sorry, Dad, I was > talking > to Morgan. Listen, I'm not coming out there." > > > "Come on," he urged. "You can tell me what a rotten father I've been." > > > "You have been a rotten father." > > >Lara, Adair is the author of 'Hold Me Close, Let Me Go: A Mother, A Daughter And An Adolescence Survived - Adair Lara - Hardcover - 1 ED' with ISBN 9780767905077 and ISBN 0767905075.