What did you do with him?

Dropped him off up the road.

Highway or the backroad?

What difference does it make?

Highway, he’s got a fighting chance. Backroads. He’ll be lost forever. Just tell me where you dropped him off at.

We been over this, he said. Told you I wasn’t going to tell you. Told you it was none of your business. That’s a deal he and I worked out. You’re not going to go looking for him. He’ll make it back here, one of these days. Could be a week. Could be a month. Just like tossing them in a swimming pool. They either sink or swim, now don’t they? He lit a cigarette. Poured himself a cup of coffee.

It’s still dark outside. Should have been in the light. Let him out in the light. What if somebody hits him? What if they find him in a ditch?

He’ll be fine, the father turned on Good Morning America. The hosts were talking about Sunday’s football games. Who won and who lost. Dad slurrped his coffee. This’ll make him tough, he said. He’ll find out how to survive.

How much money did you give him?

Couple of twenties.

That’s all? He’ll spend that in a day.

Not if he’s smart. He’ll come back when it’s gone. Probably spend it on some whore downtown. That’s what I should have done; just taken him to a whorehouse.

That’s not the way you make a man.

You know the Jews are smart about it. They make their boys learn Hebrew. God’s laws. Some kind of social order. Morals. We don’t do any of that. We just dunk them under water in a tank. Hope they come out OK.

He should’ve been baptized.

He is. That’s what this whole trip is about. He’ll either come back a man, or he won’t. You’ll see.