James McManus

My Father's Sunglasses

The best things in life are pink. My father
informed me of this twenty-six years ago. We were waiting
in front of the awningless First Bank of Lisle for my mother.
It was Saturday morning, late June or early July, and blindingly
sunny, even with my cap pulled down low. And it's hotter than hell,
said my father. He had on a T-shirt and sweatstained tortoiseshell
sunglasses. I was wearing my polyester Bronco League uniform
and clutching a brand-new green passbook in my first-baseman's mitt.
My savings account had one line, $60.00, money I'd got
from relatives for my eighth-grade graduation, plus
some I'd made as a caddie. I was rich, I thought
then, but I'd started to feel kind of nervous.
We were gonna be late for my game, and I had no idea
what my father was talking about.

--James McManus

***

***