Things never go according to plan, he said. You can try. Try all you want. You’ll still get stuck in the middle.

Right, Junior said. Truest words you’ve ever spoken.  Seems like everything up to this point has been a lie, he stirred his coffee. Like when we were kids. You said there was no Santa Claus. Well, I wasn’t ready to hear that just then. It angered me.

Santa Claus angered you? Some fictional character’s non-existentence angered you? Said the old man.

And that time you told me the dog ran away.

Right.

You killed it, dad. Shot it out in the woods.

So what if I did? You weren’t taking care of it.

The son took a sip of coffee. He lit a cigarette. Pointed to his father lying in bed. It’ll catch up with you. It’ll all some day catch up with you.

You think so?

Yeah.

We’ll see.

You’re an evil man, pop. Just plain evil. The devil made you in his own image.

They both laughed.  Maybe so, dad said. Maybe so.

Let me ask you something. You ever cheated on mom?

I’ve cheated on everyone. 

The old man closed his eyes. He did not wake up.