The network's annual foundation gala was in nine days.
I had known about it for six weeks and had been ignoring it with dedication, because my father sends me the invitation every year and every year I throw it in the recycling, and every year he calls and says "will you come this time" and I say "I am working" and he says "you are always working" and we both hang up feeling like we lost an argument we never had.
This year I called him and said yes.
There was a long silence on the line. Then he said, "Who are you and what have you done with my daughter."
"Are you on the foundation board," I said.
"I have been on the foundation board since before you were born."
"Do you know Elias Thorne."
"I know his father-in-law." A pause. "Why."
I stood in the hospital parking structure, my back
