The Prodigal Father
by KiwiGuy
Copyright© 2025 by KiwiGuy
Once upon a time, there was a father who had two sons. Each by a different mother. Neither of them the woman he is living with at the moment.
And the younger son went to his father and said, “Hey Dad, let’s have a game of ball.”
Well, that’s what he would like to have said. The fact is, he’s only ever seen his father once, on his fifth birthday. That day, the father turned up half drunk on his mother’s doorstep, thrust a package into her hands, and said, “Here’s something for the kid.” The first and last time.
Perhaps he’s luckier than the eldest son, though.
The father turned up on the eldest son’s mother’s doorstep when he turned five, a bit more than half drunk this time. When the mother tried to stop him coming in, the father hit her in the mouth and knocked her down. Then he grabbed the eldest son and dragged him off, saying, “I’m going to give my son a birthday treat, and you’re not going to stop me.”
The eldest son cried, and tried to run away. For that, he got a belt around the ear, and pulled into the father’s car. In between shouting at the boy for continuing to cry, and trying to drink from a half-empty bottle, the father crashed the car. So the eldest son’s most memorable gift was a scarred face, which he’ll have for the rest of his life.
Now, being chased by the courts for maintenance payments for the two sons, the father sold some computer equipment he had stolen, and headed to a far country. There he survived on burglaries and booze, and found a woman who was willing to put up with him, as long as he beat her up no more than once a week.
But one day, he did both once too often. She went to the police, and they found enough stolen property lying around the house to put the father away for a good stretch.
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