The Abandoned Son
Mom always told me, "Your stomach's weak, you can't handle too much of it."
It wasn't until much later that I understood — it wasn't that I couldn't eat it. She just didn't want to give me any.
My voice came out cold. "I'm not going."
Her tears spilled over all at once. "Ryan, how did you turn into this? That's your father!"
I looked at her. "Does he even know I'm his son? When I had two ribs broken, you know what he said? He said, 'Looks like the lesson hasn't sunk in yet.'"