"Hey father, I can always give him the check, I am sure he would enjoy getting it from me anyways"--Me **Scowl**--Father

When I was in Kansas visiting my father for the first time, there was an incident where I was hit on by my father's best friend's son. When I proceeded to tell my father about the incident, he was not happy. I witnessed from afar the anger that a father could have about his daughter being hit on.

It was on one of my last nights in town. I was sitting in my father's garage eating homemade fajitas made from a cow that was freshly slaughtered the day before. Now before you get all grossed out, it was the best piece of meat I have ever eaten. My father's friend, Juan, had picked out the best cut just for me, his best friend's daughter. Just as I was taking my first bite into the delicious, juicy, goodness, Juan's son pulled up in his white Dodge truck.

My father proceeded to stalk over to the boy and began having a few short words with him. As my father placed his hand on the back of Juan's son's neck, he asked, "So I hear you were hitting on my daughter. That does not sit well with me. You see, your dad is like my brother, which makes you like a nephew to me, meaning she would be your cousin. We are in Kansas, not Alabama, that shit isn't cool. I don't want to hear about you hitting on her again. You will treat her with respect while she is here. Do you understand me?"

With every sentence my father completed, his grip on the back of the boy's neck got tighter and tighter. At the end of the speech, all the boy could do was nod in compliance. He never spoke a word to me for the rest of my first trip there. From then on it was always a running joke between my family that anytime my father had to interact with him, I would be more than happy to step in for my father. That I was sure the boy would gladly talk to me than my father. That joke was always met with a scowl. Whatever, I thought it was funny.

My father, Me and my Grandpa (on my father's side)