Chapter 14 - MY FATHER’S SLAP
Dad received a misdemeanor citation for striking Berenger.
The prosecutor reviewed the video from a neighbor’s rear security camera.
It showed:
Dad enters.
Pulls Berenger several steps away from the pit.
I am still trapped.
Berenger is no longer touching me.
Dad slaps him.
Could Dad argue defense of another?
He had just intervened.
But the slap came after physical separation.
The prosecutor offered diversion.
Dad accepted.
No heroic litigation.
Anger-management class.
Restitution for Berenger’s medical copay.
No contact outside lawful proceedings.
Dad hated paying.
He paid.
Then he told me:
“I keep thinking I should have hit him harder.”
“Then your class isn’t working.”
He smiled.
“Probably why I have five sessions left.”
Then serious:
“I frightened you.”
“A little.”
“I was trying to save you.”
“You were saving me when you moved him and dug.”
He nodded.
“The slap was for me.”
There.
Correct.
Then:
“I’ve spent my whole life telling executives governance means rules apply when you’re angry too.”
“And?”
“And then I slapped the fired CEO in a backyard.”
I laughed.
Couldn’t help it.
He did too.
Then we stopped.
Because none of this was funny.
Still, guilt without humor becomes theater.
Dad completed the program.
No conviction.
May you like
No special treatment.
That mattered to me more than any corporate victory.
