The Brothers K

p. 99

Papa Chance had wanted to be a baseball player, but it hadn’t worked out. When his son Kade challenges him about it, he loses his temper and belts his son. Then this: ”’You know, millwork isn’t baseball,’ he says, and his voice too is trembling. ‘You–Everett–Peter–do any of you understand that? It’s not a game, not an art, it’s not even a damned skill. It’s just a dead thing I do for money so we can eat. I’m a millworker, Kade. And millworkers are the people who can’t be who they wanted. Do you understand that?’”