I am in a dental office and I am a dental assistant. I am one of three. I am waiting to go in with the next patient and assist the dentist who is a very old, plump and a mildly senile Anthony Hopkins. When I finally go in I see that Hopkins has the most exquisite nose I’ve ever seen and I fall in love with his nose. I am seduced. He must notice this because he begins to flirt with me. Over an oral examination with a patient I become involved with Anthony Hopkins. He has invited me to his home to share Thanksgiving. He has not invited the other dental assistants. In his home are three of his grandchildren, all adult women, his son, and his daughter in law. We have a lovely thanksgiving meal and then we go to sit in the living room. Anthony nods off to sleep, his head falling back, and his mouth full open and making saliva gurgling sounds. It is then that I see he is kind of too old for me. He wakes up and begins to flirt with me again and this time he kisses me. I get sight of his nose and forget he is too old. He falls back to sleep, wakes up, and falls back to sleep a few more times. He then removes from his pocket a check for me for my work as a dental assistant. I assume because he likes me it will be a lot of money. I walk away before I open the check and look at the amount and see that he has given me a check made out to another assistant. I also make note of the amount (270.00) and still convinced I will get more I return to Anthony, and explain that he has given me the wrong check. He looks shocked and embarrassed. He goes into his pockets looking for my check and in doing so I can see he’s got loads of cash in his pockets. He hands me my check, and again I walk away before opening it. I am in the kitchen when I open it and see that it is even less money (70.00) and I’m pissed off and feel used. Right then I decide to go back in and confront him. He is asleep again. I go through all of his pockets and take whatever cash I find. I go back to the van that is waiting for me outside to drive me home. His three daughters are taking me home. One is driving, one is sitting in the first row of seats and the third daughter is lying down in the back. I get into ‘shotgun’ seat. The first thing the eldest daughter who is driving says is: Let me guess, he tried to seduce you and cheated you out of your money.
There was a moment in time when I witnessed my father vulnerable. He had rented a car and parked it outside my apartment in Brooklyn. He was not feeling well and had asked to stay with me and my then boyfriend, Eric. He slept for days on end and I really don't have any recollection of talking to him while he was with us. This is important to this narrative because I have always lamented the fact that I seem to have spent relatively little time with my father. I have snapshot memories of being with him - here and there, here and there. I am a teenager and he drives me into San Francisco, hands me money while he waits in the car, and I go in and buy some shoes. There are the times we drove the few blocks necessary to get to Baskin Robbins for ice cream over on University Avenue a few blocks up from his home in Palo Alto. There were lots of family reunions but I don't have any memories of being alone with my father, having a conversation or discussing anything. He did however ca...
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