My Father and I Agree
Hannah Jones
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On Mexican food
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On Ocean’s 11 and the West Wing
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On government
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We hate rhetoric short enough to fit on a sign
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It doesn’t tell the full story
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We admit everything is complicated
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We do not respect the law
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We both go twelve over on Purdue St
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We both go a little over on every street no matter what
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Most people do that
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We both have an instinct to steal
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He doesn’t call his stealing, he calls it cunning
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We both don’t trust authority
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I get that from him
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In both senses
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We suspect
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I am unsure whether he commits tax fraud because I do not know tax law well enough
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He is unsure whether I drink in college because he does not know me well enough
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I think he smoked a lot of weed before he met my mother just because all of his brothers did and he never said why he wouldn’t
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I think his habit of stretching the realm of “only tipsy” might coincide with a habit of driving home drunk
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I don’t think he deserved to be sued for copyright infringement
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I don’t have much evidence for any of it
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Just all of this thinking
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We don’t ask
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On federal culpability in the 2007 housing crisis
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On Apple vs PC
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On lifestyle
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We ran
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He runs
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I don’t run anymore because of my knee
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Our knees are both fucked up
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His from jumping out of planes
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He doesn’t see his injury as a reason to stop running.
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I see a rainy day as a reason to stop running
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We are early risers
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He wakes early
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Eats breakfast at the same restaurant, same order, 7am.
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He organizes his trash cans.
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He has an alphabetized collection of over 700 DVDs.
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He has his car washed exactly once a week. He buys the washes in bulk, gets a discount.
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He would have written a more well-organized outline.
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But he wouldn’t have known what to fill it with.
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I stumble into work at 5am
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And don’t enjoy it.
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But I know he would admire me for it.
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Sometimes my room gets so messy I can’t clean it.
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He would not understand this phenomenon.
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On megachurches
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On pain
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Having a high pain tolerance is important
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I admire all his broken ribs from racing mountains bikes.
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He never goes to the doctor.
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He used to poke me in the ribs when he was teasing.
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It hurt quite a bit.
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I have a very low pain tolerance.
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Sometimes when I stub my toe very hard I bang my head into the wall until it stops hurting
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The toe, that is
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I think he would be proud.
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On Five Guys seasoned fries
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On pleasure
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How it comes from the sun
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How it is found near pools and oceans
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We both burn easily
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He does not agree, thinks lobster red fading to sun spots is a tan.
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We both burn frequently nonetheless.
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How it comes from music
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The highest calling
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He played it, and I love to listen.
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He doesn’t play anymore.
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(that I know of)
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I still love to listen.
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How it does not always come from knowledge
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For us it comes from uncertainty.
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The period between seeing something and knowing what it is.
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We would both rather get the other one’s voicemail
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We would both rather suppose intentions
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We would both rather stop before the complications
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The further in we go the less we agree
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The more irreconcilable everything gets
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On goddamn peace and quiet
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On academia
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On cities
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On being scrappy, thrifty, independent.
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On feeling like we never got much help
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We both baby our parents
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We both don’t necessarily “get along” with our fathers
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We both have fathers less crazy than their fathers
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So we are getting somewhere
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Albeit slowly
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1. Assuming nothing has changed since the last time we spoke in person approximately 1 year and 9 months ago.
About the Writer
Hannah Elizabeth Jones is a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been previously published in Cellar Door, Campus Blueprint, Sketchbook, and apt. She was a finalist in the 2016 Livershot Memoir competition.