Comes now the story of Hank.
All his life, Hank was irresponsible: as a child, as an adult, and most especially, as a father. His girlfriend gave birth to a daughter Gemma and throughout much of her life he was not present.
Finding it difficult to be a parent, Hank felt that his daughter was better off without him around. In his mind, all he could add to the young girl’s life was chaos and destruction. He could not hold a job. He had problems associating with people. He also had very little impulse control.
He lived a life of petty crime. He shoplifted, he broke into houses, he sold illicit drugs and brokered stolen goods. Sometimes his activity would escalate to the level of violence, but he never harmed anyone with serious injury. Most of the violence he inflicted usually came with a shove or a threat in the midst of a strong arm robbery.
Despite his unsavory lifestyle, Gemma still loved her father. And there were times when he would visit her, though they were brief and not often. But when he was around, he was pleasant. He would take her out to eat. He would play with her. He would take her to a park. In those fleeting experiences, Gemma felt like she had a father.
As she grew older, the visits became less and less frequent. Hank’s stints in jail grew longer and longer. When Gemma was older, she would visit him in jail. He always smiled when she came in. But he often discouraged her because he did not like her seeing him incarcerated.
Unsurprisingly Hank’s life had a severe negative impact on Gemma’s upbringing. When she was of age, she would date young men whose lives often tracked close to that of Hanks. One of her boyfriends in particular was often violent toward Gemma. This went on for months. Her mother broke down one day and told Hank about what was happening.
Hank spoke with Gemma and told her to stop seeing the abusive man. Gemma told him that she would. Weeks later Hank visited Gemma at her apartment and found her covered in bruises and her arm in a cast. Her former boyfriend beat her severely after she broke up with him. Hank got angry but he did not react with emotion. All he did was embrace his child, and he cried. He felt responsible partly for what happened.
Hank looked at her and told her though he had never been there as a father he would soon stop moving around and would be in one place and she could see him anytime she wanted.
In the next few days, Gemma’s boyfriend disappeared. His body was never found. However, during the course of investigation, Hank was arrested for his murder. Hank never provided details about what happened though he never denied that he killed Gemma’s boyfriend.
He pleaded guilty in open court to the crime. The judge, taking the totality of circumstances in mind, decided to sentence Hank to prison for life, rather than give him the death penalty. The judge also ruled that Hank would be housed in a minimum security prison near the town where Gemma lived.
At last, Hank was in one place. Gemma could see him and visit with her father whenever she wanted.
Well, thank you. I’m going to be writing stories from Gemma’s POV as well as the mother
I guess we could call that Hank getting his life together! Great story. I loved how Hank didn’t have any illusions about who he was as a person. I really enjoyed reading this! I read it out loud to my sister!