Goodnight Moon

3- He Has A Heart Of Gold

“Good morning, Daddy,” I chirp into my phone on Monday morning.

“Hey, Ari,” He greets me. “How are you?”

“I’m just fabulous,” I assure him as I pour food into Max’s dog bowl and then stand up to go put some toast in the toaster. “How’s Japan?”

“Boring,” He jokes. “Are you doing well with school?”

“Of course,” I confirm. “It’s like straight A’s except for that dumb B in pre-calc but pre-calc is hard so I’m okay with a B.”

“That’s very impressive,” My dad tells me. “What time is it there?”

“Seven,” I inform him. “In the morning, I’m getting ready for school. If the time difference chart on the fridge is anything to go by, it’s eight at night for you there, yes?”

“Why is there a time difference chart on the fridge?” He laughs.

“Well, it’s hard to keep up. Adan is eight and a half hours ahead of me here in New Jersey and you’re thirteen hours ahead and it all gets complicated so I put a chart on the fridge.”

I hear somebody talking in the background in Japanese and then my dad says something back but I don’t speak Japanese so I obviously don’t know what they’re saying back and forth. “Well that’s very organized of you.”

“I’m an organized person,” I remind him. “Max misses you.”

“Your dog? Max hates me,” He says.

“Max doesn’t hate anybody,” I argue. “He has a heart of gold.”

My toast pops above the toaster, so I go over to the counter and, with my phone wedged between my cheek and shoulder, I put both pieces on a plate and get the butter from the fridge. “Of course he does. He probably learns from you.”

“Of course he does,” I concede. “So when are you coming home, do you know?”

“Not for a while,” He sighs. “Maybe June or July.”

“You do know that I graduate at the end of May, right?” I ask him curiously as I skillfully spread butter on my toast while also keeping my phone to my ear. I hear footsteps behind me and I assume that it’s Lake because he’s the only other person in the house. I didn’t really see him at all yesterday because I went shopping and then I locked myself in the gym for most of the day which was very fortunate but now we’re in the same room together again and I just don’t like it at all. “It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing, you know.”

“I know that,” He confirms. “And I’m not missing your graduation. I don’t care if I have to take the jet there and back in one day, I will absolutely not miss your graduation.”

“Good,” I chirp. “Adan said that he might be able to make it too which is super cool. But before that, there’s prom and senior breakfast and there’s just so much senior stuff that I’m not even prepared for.”

“You’ll be just fine,” My dad assures me. Lake goes through my fridge and I watch as he pulls out some orange juice that he bought yesterday. I’m wary of him in the kitchen because I’m sure that he’ll try to eat some of my food and I’m very protective of my food. “Have you decided on a college yet?”

“I haven’t,” I deny. “But I’m still actively thinking about it. Pittsburgh seems nice but yeah, I dunno. The future gives me acne.”

“Well that would be absolutely tragic,” He teases me. “Anyway, I have some things to take care of here and you have school soon, I’m assuming, so I’ll call you in a few days, okay?”