Dad

(From Born Round)

Circa 1984 or so: that's Dad in the center, with Mom on one side, Adelle on the other, and me, Mark and Harry, left to right.

At 9 p.m. or so I’d often see him trudge into the kitchen or into the garage in his pajamas, on the hunt for ice cream bars or ice cream sandwiches. He’d reach into the freezer, grab two Eskimo Pies or two Flying Saucers and then, sometimes, after a moment’s hesitation, grab a third. I once went to talk to him in his and my mother’s bedroom, where he had an enormous leather recliner situated just opposite the television set, and spotted four Eskimo Pies stacked up on the table next to the chair. He had settled in for a long Yankees game, and didn’t want to take any chances that he’d need to rouse himself for another trip to the freezer.