I can hear Ma's breath take up sharp when they bring Dad in.
He's still a handsome man--thin, dark curly hair with no gray, and more solid than ever since he works out in the prison weight room all the time. He always walks jaunty as if to say that wearing a gray uniform and living in an interlocking set of cages has not yet broken him. But you can see in his blue eyes that they broke him a long time ago.
"Hiya everybody," he says trying to sound real happy.
Ma throws her arms around him and they hold each other. Sis and I sit down on the two chairs. I look at Sis. She stares at the floor.
Dad comes over then and says, "You two sure look great."
"So do you," I say. "You must be still lifting those weights."
"Bench pressed two-twenty-five this week."
"Man," I say and look at Sis again. I nudge her with my elbow.
She won't look up.
Dad stares at her. You can see how sad he is about her not looking up. Soft he says, "It's all right."
)
