His Father's Son (standard:other, 2334 words) [3/4] show all parts
Author: Jim Spence	Added: Aug 16 2003	Views/Reads: 2457/1810	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Part 3 in the Herman series ...

His Father's Son 

Herman awoke to the sounds of traffic, as he usually did.  His window
faced the street and, even though it was Saturday, the hustle and 
bustle of the city was as loud as ever.  This wouldn't be just an 
ordinary day for Herman; it was Saturday, and he had plans for the day. 


Herman turned and looked at his alarm clock.  It was flashing ... the
power had gone out sometime during the night.  Well, that was okay.  He 
could afford to sleep in; he didn't have to be at the book store until 
3:00 that afternoon. 

He had a leisurely breakfast, watched the local news on TV, got a shower
and put on the clothes he had selected the night before.  Herman was 
always meticulous about what he was going to wear the next day.  In 
some ways, it helped him take control of a life over which he felt he 
had little control.  You see, Herman was an ordinary sort.  He worked, 
he paid his taxes, he called his mother twice a month and he helped 
little old ladies across the street.  As ordinary as ordinary can be.  
There was nothing particularly special about Herman.  And he had always 
wished there were. 

As he went about his ordinary morning activities, Herman had this
nagging thought that he was forgetting something.  Just something 
there, in the back of his mind, that he couldn't quite see, but knew he 
should. 

Herman left his third floor walk up on the lower east side and headed
north on foot towards the park.  Today being Saturday he wasn't in any 
hurry to be anywhere, save for the book store, and it was still 
unusually warm for this time of year; almost hot.  Herman thought for a 
moment that he might be overdressed for this weather, but he wasn't 
about to go back and change now. 

As he started his walk that same vague thought crept into the back of
his mind ... “what is it that I've forgotten?” he asked himself.  
Nothing came to him but, whatever it was, he knew he should remember. 

As Herman walked he noticed the fish market on the corner.  There was
Mr. Mackie, the owner, outside arranging the day's catch.  His two sons 
were there too, half-heartedly helping their father.  Herman knew both 
boys from the neighborhood.  He knew Stevie, the oldest boy, well 
enough, mainly because Stevie was the one that had called Herman ‘Old 
Man' the day that he was making a delivery to Mrs. Custer right across 
the hall from Herman.  He'd also seen the younger boy Mike making 
deliveries in the neighborhood, but he knew nothing much about him. 

As he approached, Herman noticed Mr. Mackie had become animated.  He was
yelling at Stevie for something.  Stevie was just sulking in the 
corner, so obviously wishing he was somewhere else, and Mr. Mackie was 
screaming something about “why can't you be like your brother?”  Mike 
did the right thing and retreated to the safety of the store.  Herman 
wondered who Mike hated facing the most ... his father or Stevie? 

As he passed the fish market, he thought about his own brother, just a
few years younger.  Successful in real estate, Wally seemed to have it 
all.  Herman didn't see him that often, what with Wally's office in New 
Jersey and Herman stuck here in the city.  Still, though, they talked 
often enough, and Herman was kept apprised of the latest turns in 
Wally's life. 

Their father had been very proud of Wally.  Wally was always expected to
be the one to carry on the family name, to make something of himself.  
Herman was ... well, Herman.  He had become just about who his father 
thought he would become. 

His father ... then the thought that had been on the back of Herman's
mind hit him like a ton of feathers ... today was his father's 
birthday. 

“That's what it is” he finally realized in exasperation.  “Today he
would have been 68.” 

Herman thought about his father often.  His father had died at an early


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