youβre phillip buckley. you and your wife are considering splitting up. you receive two emails over the course of some weeks. your son invites you to the funeral of the man who raised him in your stead. itβd be a four hour drive maybe. you choose not to go. you drink some wine. then your daughter sends you an email announcing the birth of her second child who is named after the same man that raised your son. the same dead man. you know that no child will ever be named after you. you know that itβs what you deserve.
youβre phillip buckley and you witness your son receive the greatest gift he could ever ask for (his captain believed in him a year ago) and thereβs an expression on his face youβve never seen. you once thought you knew what he looked like happy; bruised and rough around the edges with an ice cream cone in his hand. now you see that it was never joy, it was transaction. youβll never see that face on him. youβll never elicit that look after youβre gone.





















