Despite leaving my father out of a great deal of this story, trust me, he was there through the entire thing, through the thick and thin of it. And trust me, it got awfully thick. See, Dad just likes to stay out of the limelight. FYI, like with the coattails and chopped liver, that’s another expression that should’ve fallen out of style long ago. Back in the day, the theaters literally heated limes up to make bright lights. Limes! I bet the playhouses smelled better back then, anyway. Citrusy, I’d imagine.
“You doing okay, Eddie?”
I visited Dad once a week. He wasn’t working anymore. There was little joy in accounting to begin with, so once the money rolled in—steamrolled in, really—he simply retired. He was the only one not officially on the payroll. To be fair, he’d supported Ma, both
