Your Fate…

Your wardrobe will consist of 13 white button down shirts and 13 pairs of Khaki pants.  In the closet there are 13 numbered hangers. 

You will be a student, following your father’s footsteps into the legal profession, where he has made more money than is strictly necessary and parlayed that money into political power and social notoriety. 

Your desk suffers from immaculate organization.  Three pens are placed perfectly parallel.  The morning paper has been laid on your desk, as it is each morning, by your partner.  On the front page, a picture of your father hand-cuffed, a cop’s hand on his head so your father won’t be brained by the roof of the cruiser he’s being stuffed into.  Large bold type-face above the image.  Your guts turn to ice as you read the salacious tale of your famous father’s role in some glory-hole shenanigans in a university men’s room. 

The public frenzy goes on for several days.  At school, talk is ubiquitous but silences as you approach. One painful day, there is a tearful resignation, the announcement of a divorce and a quiet plea to a lesser offense.  At the end of that day, your partner will hand you a cup of tea and kiss your head gently, as you sit in your closet, contemplating a change in wardrobe.