One Last Thing Before I Go

his head against hers. “I understand.”
    “That’s great,” she says. “Because I don’t understand you at all.”
    They sit in silence for a few moments, watching Casey do the Electric Slide. “Look at her,” Elaine says. “She’s a mess.”
    “She’ll be OK.”
    “No!” Elaine snaps at him, jerking herself away from him. “She will not!”
    Silver sits up a bit, surprised by her anger, which has come on without warning.
    “I don’t need to tell you that you’ve been a lousy father,” Elaine says.
    “And yet, you feel compelled to,” he says warily.
    “Because you still don’t get it! Your daughter is eighteen years old and pregnant.”
    “She’s not a crack whore. She made a mistake.”
    Elaine shakes her head. “I don’t know what was going through her head, but I do know that it’s your fault.”
    “Me? What did I do?”
    “Exactly. What did you do?”
    “Jesus, Mom.”
    Elaine’s face has grown red, her chin quivering with a quiet rage. “You gave her every reason in the world to write you off. And by some miracle, she hasn’t. She still loves you and believes in you. Why do you think she came to you?”
    “Because she was scared to go to Denise. She figured I’d be more sympathetic.”
    He is aware that the music has stopped, that the bandleader has announced the next course. He is so accustomed to the rhythm of these affairs that he mentally logs it without knowing that he has.
    “You’re an idiot,” Elaine says, getting to her feet, inadvertently spilling her drink onto the table. The two older couples seated across from them make a big show of not paying any attention to the mini-drama unfolding right there in front of them at Table 16. “She came to you because she’s terrified, and she wants her daddy. To make it better.”
    The truth of what she’s just said cuts into him. Casey wants her daddy. He has been an idiot for so long that sometimes he forgets what an idiot he is.
    “I’m trying.”
    “How? By killing yourself? Are you kidding me? What do you think will happen to her then?”
    “She’s a good girl. She’s done fine without me.”
    Elaine shakes her head at him, stepping away from the table. “You can tell yourself that over and over again, until you’re blue in the face. It’s not going to make it any more true.”
    She gives him one last, pained look, then turns on her heel and storms away from him. Silver looks across the table at the two other couples and nods apologetically.
    In the center of the dance floor, the DJ is addressing the room. “Ladies and gentlemen, for your entertainment, the Ross family is pleased to present world-renowned mentalist Mr. Dave Zellinsky!”
    There is a round of applause as a tall, thin, completely bald man in an expensive tuxedo steps forward and takes the microphone. “Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. How about a big hand for our host, Ashley!”
    Another round of applause. Silver decides he can’t be here anymore in this hot, loud, shiny room full of strangers. He gets up and begins making his way through the tables toward the exit.
    “We’re going to have a little fun, now,” Zellinsky says, moving into the crowd of tables. “I need a volunteer. Come on, people, it’s an open bar. Someone here has to be drunk enough to volunteer.” The patter of a seasoned professional. This guy has been at it for a few years. Silver wonders, as he always does when faced with the performers who occupy this vast and sad level of the entertainment business with him, what tragic detour landed this guy on the bar – and bat mitzvah circuit. Whatever the story, he thinks he has a pretty good idea of the lonely, self-loathing hell he goes home to.
    He is still somewhat stunned by his mother’s angry tirade, and so he doesn’t realize the unfortunate moment at which he reaches the open dance floor until it’s too late.
    “Terrific!” Zellinsky says, running over to him. He puts his arm around Silver and leads him to the center of the dance floor. “We’ve got our first victim!”
    “No,” Silver says. “I was just on my way—”
    Zellinsky turns to him. “What’s your name, sir?”
    “Silver.”
    “Let’s have a big round of applause for Silver!” Zellinsky says. The crowd applauds. Silver sees his father, standing in a cluster of older men, suddenly looking up, his eyes wide with concern. He sees Casey, standing in the back, looking alarmed and mortified at the mess he’s gotten himself