He’s sitting there wearing an old jacket which appears to have been worn a thousand times. His
shiny shoes have lost their shine. His hat is frayed on the edges. His eyes are nervously looking
around the metro station as if he’s looking for something or... someone. I walk up to him, my
sneakers making screeching noises on the dirty linoleum floor. “Excuse me?” my voice cuts
through the din of the station and enters his ear circulating through his brain until he finally
acknowledges the words. “What?” He whips around and stares at me with these grey-blue eyes
that I’ve seen in the mirror my entire life. Actually his entire face resembles mine, the almond
shaped eyes, the small pointed nose, the pursed lips I’ve seen mom yelling at me from across
the room with. The same lips that I’ve seen suckling with on the mouth of a whisky bottle. The
same lips are attached to this man’s face I’ve never seen before. “Do I know you?” He asks me
“Sorry I...”. Is this the man I’ve been looking for all this time? “Are you James?” I manage to
choke out. He left me at birth, my mom having to raise me herself, actually scratch that. I had to
teach myself the ways of the world, have to live in poverty and take care of my mother. I’m only
doing this, hoping that this scruffy middle-aged man will treat me any better, hoping that he won’t
curse at me, beat me till I’m black and blue or be an alcoholic. “Alice?” His voice cracks. Both of
our eyes are beginning to tear. “Dad?” I whisper. He stands up and I embrace him. He smells of
something. Something new, a new beginning.