My Daughter Went to the Father Daughter Dance Alone Until a Dozen Marines Walked In

she read anything that mattered to her, a habit she had developed in kindergarten that we had never tried to stop because it seemed to belong to her reading the way certain mannerisms belong to certain people, inalienably. After a moment she looked up at me.

“Can I read it out loud?” she asked.

“Yes, sweetheart,” I said. My voice was not completely steady.continue reading …