Becoming His Father’s Son

The view from Alex’s window, which only minutes before made him feel that he was breathing the rarefied air at the summit of his world, now gave him vertigo. Was he moving in circles or was the world around him in motion? His first concern was for his father, which was uncharacteristic of Alex and an uncomfortable fit. He had never before known his father to be vulnerable. Always his father was the innermost solid core of the family. While it was true that Alex was closer to his mother and that he and his father had barely spoken in years, Nate was a core magnetic force at the center of Alex’s life, so much so that Alex had never stopped to think about it. Nate had made it all possible for Alex, his first class education, the life style he was able to maintain in college and law school, his summer in Europe. Alex hadn’t given much thought to those gifts; he had accepted them as entitlements and even had the audacity to be embarrassed that his father chose to work in the inner city. Alex was spinning. He was spinning upside down because he saw that the people he had looked down on, his father’s patients, were the ones who had paid for his, Alex Hamilton, Esquire’s comfortable life. Now his father’s livelihood and reputation were in jeopardy. Alex was on his head looking up, the view had blurred. Fearing that he would fall if he kept looking through the glass, he turned his back to the windows and with his head down, began to imagine the conversation he would have with his father about what he had learned from Lorraine. Then, he thought of May. They shouldn’t tell her about this business. She needed to be protected, but she knew his father too well and would know that Nate was troubled. His father would have to decide whether or not to tell May. The thought of May helped Alex to regain his equilibrium and begin to steady himself. “Next item,” he thought, “Who would be the best attorney for Dad?” At that moment the telephone rang and Alex walked to his desk to answer. He remained standing and turned on the speaker phone to hear his assistant say, “It’s your broker.” Still standing, Alex reached for his receiver and turned off the speaker phone.

“Yeah, Alex here.”

“Hey Alex, how’s it going, guy?”

“Fine, fine but I’m kind of tied up with something, an important — e-r-r — an important case, so can this wait?”

“I’m afraid it can’t.”

“Alright, but this better be urgent.”

“It is.”

“It is what? Look, I don’t have time for games.”

“It’s urgent, Alex — this call is urgent. It’s about your Malworks stock.”

“Yeah, well what about them?”

“We need about one million dollars from you in order to —“

”A million dollars by when?”

“Now. If you’ve been following the news you know Malworks is having a pretty catastrophic year — reporting false earnings, bleeding their retirement funds to cover losses, now there’s this upcoming Congressional investigation and the stocks been plunging.”

“This was to be a failsafe, sure bet stock.”

“Who knew? On paper, fella, they looked like Fort Knox. The situation now, for you, anyway is that to cover your investment and what you borrowed from us on margin plus interest, will cost you about a million.”

Alex’s assistant entered the office and slipped a note in front of him saying his father was on hold and sounded “very upset.” Alex nodded to her and signaled with his index finger that she should tell his father to wait a minute. Into the telephone, he said, “I have a call on hold, can I get back to you?”

“This can’t wait, Alex. Can you cover the amount?” Alex was standing, but was also spinning again. The room was revolving around him and he was falling through space. The walls, floors and ceiling were like dough and couldn’t support him. He was falling and spinning and there was no safe place to land. He heard his own voice coming from another person or so he felt.

“No. I can’t cover it.”

“You’re sure? You know what this means, don’t you? You owe us about $750,000 — what you borrowed plus interest — and you lose your investment and — obviously — the stock.” Alex knew that this would liquidate his entire holdings. Before he had time to absorb this blow, which would reduce his assets to ashes, he heard his father’s voice on the other line.

“Son, I’m at a loss here, don’t know what I’ve done, but the law’s got me in its sights. I was talking to another doctor who said since I got the letter, it’s only a matter of time before I am indicted.”

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