Three Decades of Pretending Come to an End in a Military Holding Cell

“He said you had the military arrest him.”

“I had federal agents arrest him.”

“You need to call them and fix this this minute,” Martha said.

“Tell them it was only a family misunderstanding.

Tell them we can make a lovely pot roast on Sunday and talk the whole thing out.”

I picked my coffee cup back up.

The paper sleeve felt warm in my palm.

“There’s no misunderstanding,” I said.