Dan Wakefield - Home Free

At work that afternoon a guy in a loud sport shirt came in and ordered a taco. He had a lot of black hairs coming out of his nostrils. Gene prepared the taco, put it on a paper plate and placed it on the counter in front of the man. The man took a couple of bites and said, “You call this a taco?”

Gene didn’t answer. He took off his apron, folded it neatly, and placed it on one of the stools at the counter. He walked out the door and down Ocean Front Walk, neither fast nor slow, his hands in his pockets.

“Hey, you!” the customer called after him.

Uncle Phil offered Gene a Carlings, and they sat around talking about George Allen’s handling of the Rams for a while.

Then Gene said, “I want some.”

He didn’t have to say what.

Phil nodded and went to the kitchen. It was not for him to make moral or medical judgments. He was not a doctor or a priest. He would never have urged anyone to try it, but if they asked him and he had it he’d provide it for them. But of course he couldn’t keep giving it away. Before he got to the kitchen he turned and looked gently at Gene.

“You understand, it’s not free,” he said.

Gene nodded.

“Nothing ever is,” he said.

Dan Wakefield (b. 1932) is the author of the bestselling novels Going All the Way and Starting Over , which were both adapted into feature films. His memoirs include New York in the Fifties , which was made into a documentary film of the same name, and Returning: A Spiritual Journey , praised by Bill Moyers as “one of the most important memoirs of the spirit I have ever read.” Wakefield created the NBC prime time series James at 15 , and wrote the screenplay for Going All the Way , starring Ben Affleck. He edited and wrote the introduction for Kurt Vonnegut Letters as well as If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?: Vonnegut’s Advice to the Young.

Visit Wakefield online at www.danwakefield.com and www.vonnegutsoldestlivingfriend.com.

FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA