34
The day came quickly.
Abraham Lincoln Panim woke up, looked in the bathroom
mirror several times before he went into the shower. When he was done, he shaved,
and put on a special aftershave that Mrs. Stottle bought him years ago that he
had never used.
He then got dressed, and decided to really get dressed to
the hilt, picking out his best suit and tie to wear to meet his father for the
first time.
“My real ‘Sunday Best’ to make me look even better than I
already do,” he thought to himself, admiring himself in his hand mirror
numerous times before he was done.
He finally emerged from his room, and went into the living
room, waiting for his mother to be ready to go.
In a few minutes time, she was done, and she was dressed in
business attire, but nothing out of the ordinary.
“Abraham Lincoln Panim, why are you dressed like that?” his
mother asked him. “You are dressed like you are going out on a big date. And
that smell … why did you dunk yourself in aftershave like that?
“We are going to see your father. We aren’t going to a
wedding, or a bar mitzvah—“
“I wanted to dress my best to ‘impress.’ I want my father
to see how good I look.”
“Don’t you think it is more important for your father to
find out who you are, your accomplishments, how you have matured, rather than
what you look like?”
“It is all in the wrapping. If the outside wrapping is so
attractive, it just makes everything else … well, not second best … but it
helps to have a good wrapping. First impressions are very important—“
“Your father said he is dying. Your father just wants to
meet you. He doesn’t care if you looked like you once did. He doesn’t care at
all. He just wants you to be there—“
“Yes, but I want him to see what he has missed when he
skipped out of here. He missed you and he missed me—“
“No, Abraham Lincoln Panim, he missed the old you, the boy
who did what he had to do to get by, who wasn’t so stuck up with his appearance
that nothing else mattered.”
“Mom, I was stuck
up on my appearance back then, but just the opposite way. I hated the way I
looked, with that rat face. People made fun of me, I couldn’t even barely go
outside without people looking at me.
“Now, I can go outside and do whatever I want because people
admire me. They look at me and think, ‘That is the way I want to look.’ But
they know they can’t look this good. I give them hope … and don’t forget, I
always wear my scarf to remind me where I was, and where I am now.”
“You have become … I don’t know … you have become more vain
about your looks then you were before. What would Mrs. Stottle say about all of
this?”
“Mrs. Stottle … Mrs. Stottle would admire me too.”
After that remark, Mrs. Panim gave her son a long glare.
Her son saw her eyes, and they seemed to be red and tearing.
“Enough about that,” she said through the tears. “Let’s go
and see your father. And please, for me, please just act like you really are,
not like you are acting today or during the last several weeks.
“Please, if not for yourself, please do it for me.”
Abraham Lincoln Panim got his jacket and wrapped his scarf
around his neck. He then helped his mother on with her coat.
“Son,” Mrs. Panim said as the looked at the envelope of the
letter her husband sent her, “I think we will walk there, It doesn’t seem to be
too far away.”
The mother and son left their home to take a walk together,
something they had not done in a while. She thought that the walk would do them
good, clear out both of their heads and make them focus on what they were going
to be doing.
Abraham Lincoln Panim had other thoughts.
“OK, so we are going to walk. That is great. It is a nice
day out, people will be around, and I know that they will look at me … and
think I look great!”
