What’s He Building in There

Abstract

What’s He Building in There Cat Powell (bio) After Tom Waits Your father has been spending a lot of time in the basement recently, and I’m hoping you will speak with him about this. I know you keep saying you won’t get involved in things between us anymore, but he is your father and I am concerned. On the one hand, at least he’s not following me around the house watching me do chores like he did in the early months of his retirement. On the other hand, it is concerning. When I say a lot of time, I mean a lot of time. Please call or email him. I think he is lonely and possibly depressed. _______ I saw the photos you posted on the Facebook. I’m glad that you are having fun, but I feel like if you have time to post those photos, you have time to at least email your father. _______ You are right. That email was passive aggressive. See? I can “evolve,” too. Unlike your father. The other day I had to explain to him what passive aggressive meant, and then when we were in line at the supermarket he turned to the perfect stranger behind us and said, “I’m passive aggressive. Do you know what that means?” I wanted to crawl under the candy rack. I think you have a point about social isolation not doing him any favors. He does sometimes go to watch the game and have a pitcher with Ted, but that relationship isn’t very deep. I don’t think he’s had any close friends since his brother died. [End Page 83] I’m glad to hear that work is going well, but don’t forget that your career is only one part of your life. And not the part that’s going to give me grandkids! Just kidding. (Haha, not really.) The decorations for Sherri’s baby shower arrived yesterday. I think they’re going to look really nice. I’ll send you pictures once I get them up. _______ Don’t be silly! You can’t throw your own daughter’s baby shower! That’s why I did Sherri’s for Margene. (It went well, by the way. Pictures attached.) Honestly, if the topic upsets you that much, maybe it’s time to revisit the idea of freezing your eggs. You’re clearly not taking dating seriously, and I told you we could use some of the money we set aside for your wedding. Maybe one of your gay friends could be a sperm donor. Honestly, that is probably a much better idea than trying to raise a child with a straight man. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Your father, for example, is still obsessed with his mystery project in the basement. He never came to bed Saturday night, and when I woke up, the truck was gone. Then an hour later he was back with a truck bed full of sheet-rock panels. I told him he was going to destroy his back carrying them by himself, but he said he’d be fine, he was wearing a belt. You know how he is about hiring help for anything. Remember the fuse box? He did manage to get the panels down, though—with a lot of bumping and cursing. Then he stayed down in the basement all day. When I called him for dinner, he didn’t answer. So I finally went down there and found him lying flat on his back on the floor in literal agony. He said he was just resting, but when he tried to get up, he couldn’t. He wouldn’t let me call an ambulance or even a neighbor, so I brought him some ice packs and Advil and tried to make him comfortable. I couldn’t help pointing out that none of this would have happened if he’d hired the neighbor kid, and he said that kids these days don’t know how to do a job properly and it would have been like lighting money on fire. I was tempted to tell him...