A prisoner for the holidays

Society6
The man staying at my parents’ house has been in prison.

People whisper in hushed tones about his incarceration and subsequent release.  The details are vague and hard to follow, particularly in a different language.  A white collar crime and a refusal to rat.  How scandalously delicious and atypical for the household.

He doesn’t look like a prisoner, whatever a prisoner is supposed to look like.  He wears worn jeans, soft flannel shirts, and a baseball cap.  In short, he looks like most every other dad in the world.  The prisoner speaks softly in low tones, asking me several times what I’ve been reading lately and if I take good care of my vision (a common Asian parent concern).  My limited Mandarin doesn’t allow me to hold much of a conversation.  My mom tells me that he has stories to tell, that that’s why his children seek him out and favor him over their mother, to hear those stories.

Later he accompanies my dad to the grocery store, where my dad explains the banality of grocery shopping in the US where every store is the same down to the tinny music piped through the speakers.  He takes pictures of the meal my dad makes and send them off to his children, receiving a multitude of emojis back as a response.

There are so many questions I want to ask him, most of which I imagine would be offensive and embarrassing.  I create a fake interview in my head, complete with Barbara Walters crying moment.  His daughter and son-in-law arrive to pick him up this weekend, and then he’ll be off on the rest of his whirlwind US tour.  So maybe it’s better left alone, a permanent air of mystery around the prisoner at my parents’ house.


Comments

  1. I wonder what kind of stories he has to tell? Was he in prison on the states? I would have so many question too!

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  2. Interesting! He probably has a LOT to say.

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  3. Is he travelling around the US? That must be quite a collection of stories he's collecting:)

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  4. i would love to hear his stories and then get totally sucked in. i always always have to know what they were feeling... feels are so much when it comes to listening to stories

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  5. ...Oh but now you HAVE to ask...

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  6. Oh how intriguing, makes me want to hear his stories!

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  7. I want to hear his stories also!!! He probably has lots to say. :)

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  8. White collar crime! Shucks, I've been hoping to meet a reformed drug dealer, just to learn about the distribution infra-structure, inventory management, internal controls (COSO cube compliant??), that sort of thing. :D

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  9. Your visitor sounds like exactly the kind of person I'd want to hear stories from!

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  10. Offensive and embarrassing is the story of my life, Rooth. We may be related you know (wink wink). Oh I'd like to hear some of his stories, but then again... maybe I don't. What I do know is that I like people who refuse to rat.

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  11. I don't even have the words to describe what I'm feeling after reading this. Freaking interesting. I don't think I'll ever have a story like this. EVER.

    xoxo,
    www.houseofakih.com

    P.S. I'm inviting you to my giveaway! I hope you join it :D

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  12. I don't like being too busy to visit; I've SO missed your writing.

    Also, the intrigue . . .

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  13. consider my interest piqued! who was that mystery man?

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  14. Well, that sounds intruiging - I hope you got a good conversation going! :-)

    http://tinajoathome.com/

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  15. Wow, really? For the same reason I got interested in Orange is the New Black (although it became soap opera-ish), I find this interesting too. The stories that lead people down certain paths...the concept that no one is evil, but sometimes desperate, and that crimes usually come out of such desperation. I would have wanted to ask a lot of questions too.

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  16. Oh...how deliciously mysterious!

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  17. Oh...how deliciously mysterious!

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  18. Oh...how deliciously mysterious!

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  19. Oh...how deliciously mysterious!

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  20. Ohhh~ Interesting. I don't think that my family knows anyone like this, but I can imagine the hushed tones perfectly!

    7% Solution

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