Part 5 (1/2)

Look at me. I'm bleeding in like a million places.

-You got a few scratches.

-A few scratches? We just fell all the way down that f.u.c.king hill! Look up there. Look!

-I'm looking.

-That's a pretty long way.

-It's kind of impressive, actually.

-Did you roll all the way? I feel like I maybe flew through the air a little bit. Like maybe I hit a clump of roots or a bush and actually went flying for a few feet.

-I don't know. It happened really fast.

-But it seemed to take forever.

-Weird.

-Yeah. Anyway, sorry about that. I kind of provoked you into pus.h.i.+ng me, I think.

-I shouldn't lose my temper so easily.

-Well, I know how to push your b.u.t.tons. And I know that I know. And I shouldn't do it.

-In a perfect world.

-Which we can agree that this is not.

-Yes.

18. ”OH, MARCUS, WHAT THE f.u.c.k IS YOUR PROBLEM ANYWAY?” REMARKS THE NOT ENTIRELY OMNISCIENT NARRATOR AS MARCUS VISITS HIS RECENTLY DECEASED FATHER IN A HOSPITAL IN DAYTON, OHIO, VERY CLOSE TO THE ACTUAL TIME OF THE KOREAN CHECK-CAs.h.i.+NG DEBACLE

He looks peaceful.

-Well, most dead people do, Mom.

-You're not the kindest person in the world, are you, Marcus?

-I'm my father's son.

-Also your mother's son.

-No, that's Guy. Guy's much nicer than me. He got all the nice genes from your side of the family.

-I didn't say nice. I said kind. There's a difference. You're a very nice person, Marcus. You're responsible, reliable, even-keeled. You almost never lose your temper or snap at people.

-I get it. Guy's not really a nice person in that sense. But he is kind.

-Yes. And I think your father understood that, somewhere deep down.

-What makes you say that?

-The money he left Guy.

He left Guy money? After all those years of refusing to loan him anything?

-Exactly. I think he always planned that after he ... pa.s.sed on, Guy would get the money he wanted, and then your father wouldn't have to watch him-potentially-fail at whatever it was he wanted the money for.

-His last thing was something to do with some kind of new web-based technology. I didn't exactly understand.

-For getting rid of spiders?

-The Internet kind of web, not the spider kind.

-The kind that requires a loan from his brother.

-He seemed really keen this time. Or desperate. I'm not sure there's a big difference.

-And you said no.

-Yes. I said no.

-Well, now you can tell him yes. If not for yourself, at least on your father's behalf.

-You want me to tell him?

-I think it's appropriate.

-What's appropriate would be for him to be here, now. What's appropriate would be for him to have acted, just once, like a member of this family, like we weren't simply people he called when he was in trouble or needed something.

-He's never been good about remembering birthdays. It's not one of his strong points.