“Dad, I’m so hungry,” I whined.
Dad took hold of the back of my neck and squeezed as he turned my body to face away from him. He bent over so I could hear him.
“See the trash can over there?”
“Yes.”
“See the popcorn box on the top? The movie theater lets out over there. See if there is any popcorn in it.”
“Okay. But when is dinner?”
“As soon as I place this bet.”
“Okay.”
“Go check the popcorn box.”
I walked to the trash can and as the doors to the movie theater entrance opened, I could smell the popcorn. It smelled so good and made me hungrier. Dad promised we’d go to the buffet tonight. It was across from the sportsbook and always smelled delicious.
I peeked in the popcorn box and saw about two handfuls worth of popcorn still in it.
“Yes!” I said as I pulled the box off the top of the can.
I shoveled the popcorn into my mouth as fast as I could. I was so hungry. I hated weekends because we didn’t eat much. The only time I was guaranteed something to eat was when I went to my karate class. They'd give us fruit and crackers. Tonight was exciting, though, because Dad said we were going to the buffet to eat like the rich people. I’d been looking forward to this all week.
After I had eaten all of the popcorn and tossed the box in the trash, I headed back to Dad. Something shiny on the floor caught my eye. A quarter! Hell yeah! A quarter! I could buy a popsicle at the snack stand at school! I picked it up and clutched it tightly in my palm as I speed walked to my dad. I tugged on his sleeve, eager to show him.
“God, what, Nate?” He sounded really annoyed.
“Look.” I opened my hand and revealed the quarter. “I found it by the end of the slots over there.” I turned and pointed to the place where I’d found it.
“Give it to me,” Dad said and picked it up from my hand. Before I could protest, he had taken my quarter. “Don’t complain. I’ll put this down on the fight, and then I’ll give you your quarter back. Every cent counts, Nate.”
I knew that. He’d said that to me every weekend when we’d go to the casino and sportsbook. Every cent always counted.
“Sit over there and wait for me,” Dad said. He pointed to the row of chairs that were technically outside of the sportsbook even though I could still see the TVs from there. In front of the chairs was a long counter where people usually sat at to fill out the Keno papers or the cards to bet with if the sportsbook was full. And with tonight being fight night, it was very full.
“How long before dinner?” I asked as I turned to look at the line at the buffet.
“After the fight.”
He’d lied again!
“What? You said after you place the bet—”
Dad grabbed the back of my neck and squeezed again. I tried raising my shoulders to lessen the pain from his grip and hissed as he continued to squeeze.
“I need the money from the fight to take us to the buffet, Nate. Now go sit over there. Don’t move from that chair.”
With tears in my eyes, I trudged over to the chair on the end and threw myself down in it. I put my forehead down on the table near a full ashtray. I put my hands on the back of my neck and rubbed as my stomach growled. I hated it when he grabbed my neck. My neck always hurt because he always grabbed me there.
A few minutes later I looked up and saw that my dad was close to the front of the line…With my quarter.I grabbed a Keno card and a pencil from the plastic display on the table and started to draw Hollis Ward. I made sure to give him a t-shirt that had ‘Team Dragon’ on it. I looked up again and saw my dad was at the counter.Finally. I didn’t look up again but could sense when he was next to me.
“I hope you win back my quarter.”
“Nate, I don’t say things like that to you.”
“But I found it. It was mine. I was going to buy a popsicle at school with it.”
