Free The Family Doctor by Bobby Hutchinson Page A

Robson Street. Seems it’s a nice cozy place without costing the earth. I don’t want to cause upset for anyof you, Tony, but it’s past time I came home for a visit. Aren’t any of us getting any younger.
    If I thought it would help, I’d drop your mother a line, but I know from past experience it’ll only upset her. I’m relying on you to know what’s best where she’s concerned. Sorry to put the weight on you, lad, but I don’t know what else to do.
    Looking forward to seeing you soon,
    Your affectionate father,
Ford O’Connor
    Tony remembered in vivid detail the last time he’d seen his father. He was eleven. It had been a hot summer afternoon, and he’d been thrilled when Ford had taken him down to the Fraser River fishing. He’d felt he was one up on Wilson, getting to go off with Ford alone, even though he knew Wilson didn’t like fishing, anyway. His brother preferred going to concerts with Dorothy to doing things with Ford.
    They’d baited the hooks and hung over a piling with their rods in the water, and that’s when Ford had told Tony he was going away.
    â€œYour mother and I have our differences,” Ford had begun after much throat clearing and fiddling with the line. “She’s a fine woman, but I’ve always been a disappointment to her, son, and try as I may, I can’t make it right. I am what I am, and I can’tbe what she wants. And I can’t live with the failure any longer—it’s taking the heart out of me.”
    Tony had known that his mother and father didn’t get along. He’d lain awake many nights, squirming in sympathy as he listened to Dorothy’s shrill voice detailing every one of his father’s faults, from his smoking all the way up to the fact that, in her opinion, he didn’t earn enough money to support his family the way she thought they ought to be supported, and why didn’t he have the gumption to try and better himself. Didn’t he know he was a poor example for his sons, and wasn’t it lucky the children had her father to show them what a man should be?
    It was so many years ago, but Tony shuddered even now, remembering the empty feeling in his gut, the physical hurt in his chest when his father blurted, “I’m going away, son, to Australia. My friend Tommy has a sheep farm there and he’s loaned me the fare and offered me work.” Ford’s weather-beaten face twisted with emotion and he swallowed hard. He laid a hand on Tony’s shoulder and squeezed, the closest he ever came to an embrace. “I wish I could take you with me, boy, but I can’t. Your mother would fight me to the death on that one. Besides, you’re a clever boy. It’s best for you to stay here and get your education.”
    Hot tears had burned behind Tony’s eyelids. To keep from crying, he’d concentrated hard on a tugboat churning up the channel with its load of logs.He’d hated his mother at that moment with a fierceness that consumed him.
    Ford had cleared his throat once again and coughed hard. “Damn fags. Your mother’s right—they’re a filthy habit. Don’t you ever start, promise me that.”
    Tony had promised. He’d kept that promise. And he’d never gone fishing again.
    â€œNow, I’ll write you, I’ll send it care of your auntie Lully, so you’ll always know whereabouts I am. You give her a call in a week or ten days and she’ll have a letter for you. Look out for your sisters, son. And in a few years, when you’re finished your schooling, you can come and be with me if you want to.”
    The next morning when Tony woke up, Ford was gone. Georgia and Judy bawled their eyes out, and Wilson, bossy and self-important, phoned their grandfather, who rushed over and comforted Dorothy by assuring her she was better off alone.
    The letter Ford had promised arrived fourteen days later, and