“Why’d you do it?” I asked him.
I never liked small talk. I didn’t see what other people saw in it. Figured my question would cut to the chase.
“Huh?” he looked back at me, head cocked.
“Why’d you choose to adopt her?” I clarified.
“Oh,” he focused back on the TV. His favorite driver was trying to make a pass in the Nascar race. “Did you see that?! Ol’ Jeff just made a move. Ah hell, nevermind, you don’t watch Nascar.”
He took another swig of beer. This pause to answer was taking longer than the answer itself. “Get ’em Jeff! Atta boy!” he yelled at the TV.
Eventually, he came back to answer my question. “I guess we just got sick of seeing the system fail her. You know, she never really had a shot when she’s getting a new mommy and daddy every six months.”
“Yeah, it’s a broken system for sure.”
I debated whether to be satisfied with that answer or not. It felt truthful. But as the saying goes, there’s usually more to the picture than meets the eye.
Decided to try another.
“Was that it? Or were there any other reasons?”
He focused back on the TV. Swig. Four more laps…
Omer Redden 