I shook hands with my father in the truck, and for a long time he looked straight ahead and didn’t say a word
But I knew he was going to say a little to me
“I can’t tell anything,” he finally said
“I never went to college, and none of your brothers went to college
I can’t say don’t do this and do that, because everything is different and I don’t know what is going to come up
I can’t help much with money either, but I think things will work out
” He gave me a new check-book
“If things get pushing, write a small check
But when you write one, send me a letter and let me know how much
There are some things we can always sell
” In four years all the checks I wrote were less than a thousand dollars
My part-time jobs such as reading to the blind student and sitting with the teachers’ ki