My Son Joel
I want to tell you about my son Joel. Of all my children, he was the most like me. His mother’s name was Mudara. When Mudara told me she was pregnant with Joel I told her it was about time. We had been trying to have a baby for four years. When I told her this, she got pissed off and said it wasn’t her fault. The doctor had said it was my problem not hers. Anyway, we finally lucked out and Joel was born.
Joel was a beautiful baby. When I checked him out of the hospital there was so much red tape, that it took 13 hours. But I didn’t care. I had a son. I didn’t know much about raising children, so I decided to read up on it. But the books didn’t help. So I thought about one of my old friends in Idaho who had children. Maybe he could give me some advice. We hadn’t kept in touch, but I still had his phone number and I decided to call him. I needed a more up to date computer so I could just use email. But until I got an upgrade, I had to use the phone to contact old friends.
His wife answered the phone. She was crying. When I asked her why, she said it was because her husband was under arrest. She said he was innocent, but from what she told me, I read between the lines, and knew he was guilty. It was obvious, but she just couldn’t bring herself to believe it.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “Everything will work out.” I gave her the number of a good lawyer and hung up the phone. Maybe I just had to figure things out on my own. Maybe that’s what everyone did. I looked at Joel. He smiled at me. I smiled back. Maybe raising a son wouldn’t be so hard.
The years passed. Joel got bigger and bigger. He was ready to go to school. But he had one problem. His ears were really big. They were huge. I was worried that the other children would make fun of him.
“Don’t worry Dad,” he said. “Shit happens. If the other children make fun of me or beat me up because of my ears, it’s no big deal.”
Joel’s first day of school started out really bad and continued to get worse. On the way to school, I ran out of gas. Joel had the runs and there wasn’t time to find a bathroom. There was shit all over the car seat. The inside of the car smelled like a cat’s liter box. When Joel got to school all the other kids made fun of him right away. They called him elephant boy. He came home with a bloody nose, a black eye and a sad expression on is face.
Joel’s first few months at school were really tough. He fell behind the other students. His teachers complained that he was always fooling around. I thought they meant that he was not paying attention to his teachers. I was really surprised when I found out he had fallen in love with one. The principal asked me to come to the school and meet him for a talk. I was behind schedule and ended up being two hours late for the meeting. The principal was a fat old man with false teeth and a toupee. He looked upset.
“Your son doesn’t stand a chance in this school if he doesn’t stop fooling around with Miss Berry. If this continues I will have to expel him.”
“But my son is only six years old,” I said.
“I know,” said the principal. “I couldn’t believe it either at first.”
“I was so shocked that I passed out. The principal threw a glass of cold water on my face and I came to again. He gave me some over-the-counter pills and told me that they were a kind of sedative that would calm me down.
“Your son is spending all his time with Miss Berry. He never studies anymore. We just had examinations and your son came in last.”
“OK, I will talk to him tonight,” I said. “I will put a stop to this.
When I got home from work I went up to Joel’s bedroom for a talk.
“Joel, I talked to your principal today. He told me about Miss Berry. What’s going on son? You’re only six years old. How can you be in love?”
“Dad, her first name is Mary,” said Joel. “She’s an M woman. I can’t resist her. She’s the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen.”
I couldn’t make up my mind. I knew it was a double standard. If Joel had been a girl, I would have been angry. But my son was fooling around with a teacher who was thirty years older than him. I was proud. Actually it was kind of cool. I told Joel I would think about it and talk to him in the morning. But when I saw him at the breakfast table the next day I chickened out. I just didn’t know what to say. Every time I started to bring up the subject, I just couldn’t continue. I felt like a hypocrite. How could I tell him love with an M woman was wrong? Joel was a happy boy. Under the circumstances I just couldn’t tell him he had to stop seeing Mary Berry.
Anyway I never got a chance to tell Joel. He dropped out of school and he never came home again. Miss Berry disappeared too. In other words, they ran off together. It was by far the worst thing that had ever happened to me.
I looked for Joel for six months. He was really asking for it. I thought about how I would punish him when I found him. I even had the police help me try to find him. The police did a good job searching, but finally I told them to call the search off. I decided that it didn’t make a difference. Joel was gone. He didn’t care about me and my wife, so why should I care about him? For all I knew, he was dead.
Now ten years have passed and I still have no idea what happened to Joel. I never heard from Miss Berry either. Joel, where are you? Don’t you care about your father? I love you Joel. Where are you?
