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Beachwood, Ohio, 1973\u00a0<\/span><\/small><\/strong><\/p>\n I live with<\/strong><\/span> my parents at the Mark IV, a high-rise apartment by the freeway.<\/p>\n I’m living with my parents at age 23!\u00a0 My life is so unexciting it couldn\u2019t get published in a mortuary journal.<\/p>\n Chekhov said, \u201cPeople do not go to the North Pole and fall off icebergs.\u00a0 They go to offices, quarrel with their wives and eat cabbage soup.\u201d<\/p>\n I want to go to the North Pole.<\/p>\n My dad almost<\/strong><\/span> clobbered me because I didn\u2019t want to save five dollars on traveler’s checks by comparison shopping at banks.\u00a0 \u201cYou aren\u2019t a millionaire yet,\u201d he said, scratching himself.\u00a0 He was wearing just underwear.<\/p>\n Tonight at a<\/span> party — a parents’ party — Zoltan Rich, the Hungarian know-it-all, said, \u201cThe students protest for entirely selfish reasons.\u00a0 You know what the chief word is we\u2019re missing — the key to the whole discussion?\u00a0 It\u2019s obligation<\/em>.\u00a0 Parents have abrogated their responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n It’s time to go.<\/p>\n A guy from Case Western Reserve said he might give me a ride out west tomorrow.<\/p>\n California or<\/strong><\/span> Mexico?<\/p>\n I won’t come back here for at least six months.\u00a0 My mother has a bridge game here tomorrow.\u00a0 If I’m within 100 feet of that game, I die.<\/p>\n Move along.\u00a0 Try the Rand McNally approach to self-discovery . . .<\/p>\n It\u2019s 3 a.m.<\/strong><\/span> in Utah.\u00a0 I\u2019m under a lamppost, \u201csleeping\u201d in a sleeping bag.\u00a0 I hear deer.\u00a0 Or is it bears?\u00a0 I\u2019m afraid of nature!\u00a0 I hear semis shifting.<\/p>\n I wonder if I like \u201cfreak” America.\u00a0 Deep down I’m straighter than a library science major.\u00a0 I could wind up back in Cleveland.\u00a0 You can<\/em> go home again.<\/p>\n Or maybe I\u2019ll settle out in California.<\/p>\n My dad<\/strong><\/span> says, \u201cI\u2019m sure you\u2019ll be a success some day.\u201d<\/p>\n At what?\u00a0 Whatever it is, I should do a good job of it.\u00a0 My father never says, \u201cWhat are your plans? What do you see yourself doing in ten years?\u201d\u00a0 That would be cruel.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n My last month in Cleveland was a hell.\u00a0 But not a bad hell.\u00a0 My mother lined up dates for me.\u00a0 The dates were daughters of my mom\u2019s friends.\u00a0 I took\u00a0 girls to bars and ordered 7&7s.\u00a0 That was my booze repertoire: 7&7s.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/home\/yiddis6\/public_html\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/loayl-to-axe-1.jpg\" "\\"loayl")
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