DAD’S OFFICE

always in summer I would work at dad’s office

right in the middle of bustling smoggy western avenue near venice

near mc donalds and fatburger

edge of the hood but not quite the hood

I loved Dad as Dr. La Rose, OB/GYN

ushering in black babies to the world both planned and unplanned

administering to a patient high on some drug or another

she may or may not have been loyal to friends or family but she was always loyal to Doctor

she’d make sure to show up on time to keep that appointment cause the baby was due in a few weeks

I’m sure there must have been something about listening to a baby’s undersea heart in a pregnant woman’s belly that was magical

a life round and full just like a woman

patients would be sitting all around that vinyl blue plastic couch of his

all that heat generating from sitting there for an hour or two would make their thighs all sticky and wet

acting like impatient kids waiting for their mom to pick them up

making all kinds of noise

wanting to see doctor

I gotta see Dr. La Rose

Where is Doctor????

trying to work the last nerves of Ernestine the receptionist

she'd take a long drag from the Kool cigarette hanging out from her lip

take a long sip from the 9th Pepsi she had that morning

and tell them you know you all need to hush

Doctor is coming

just hush

and then when he'd finally arrive

they'd get real quiet and sweet like they were waiting for only five minutes

Dad not only had bedside manner but waiting room manner too

somehow to me it was kind of an honor to change the tissue paper on the tables in the examining rooms or file stuff in the patient’s charts

I’m like my dad too you know

even though I may not want to be a doctor

these hands can heal

even though I’m 12 and too young to operate on anyone

my hands made a difference in a small way

so cool 

when it was lunchtime Reverend Shepard would come to the office

small lightskin man in a black suit & porkpie hat

didn’t know where his church was but we always called him Reverend

he’d always bring us some big macs or maybe even a fatburger from down the street

during lunchtime dad would pass out on that old olive green couch of his

snoring like a buzz saw

annoying the hell out of Laverne the bookkeeper who’d always be shivering and turning up the heat in her office even though it was 90 degrees outside

and then I understood

this was Dad’s house

a home without the underwear thrown on the floor or a Lakers game blaring on the TV

he took care of all those women who needed him

just like a father would

this was his home

and I was safe 


Copyright 2007