American+Dream

I was born the little city of Bagneux, near Paris, France. My family, which consisted of only me and my mother, was poor. My dad left us when my mom was pregnant. When I turned 17, My mom decided to go to the USA to live the American Dream. I arrived at the airport early in the day. There was a strange man who was staring at me. He was wearing black clothes from the Nike store and had a tattoo on his face. He looked oddly familiar. I felt like I knew him, but I couldn’t pinpoint where I had seen him before. I ignored the urge to talk to him and excused myself to use the restroom. I slowly walked toward the restroom and away from my mother, when I realized that the strange man was following me. Maybe he is going somewhere else, I thought to myself. Being my usual paranoid self, I started walking towards the restroom at a quicker pace, making it more obvious that I was getting nervous. When I reached the restroom, I immediately walked to the sink to splash water on my face and calm myself down. After drying my face with one of the napkins beside the sink, I looked into the mirror in front of me, and the strange man was standing right behind me. My first instinct was to run but he had already grabbed my arm. “Hey, kid. Asking questions that have no answers will only make you more confused. Calm down and let your father tell you about your assignment”. The bulky man said to me in a patronizing tone. “Father? I have no father. That coward estranged my mother and me over a decade ago. I only know him through the dusty pictures I have seen of him. My mother hung on to them for years even though that man had left us. I hope that after all these years he has died a painful and horrible death.” I said with anguish. "Did he know what it was like to live without a father?" I furiously thought. “You have a father, Jon, and contrary to your statement, he is very much alive and well. In fact, he is standing right in front of you.” Scott said. The man rose his head and for the first time, I actually noticed his facial features. I noticed the way his nose was slightly upturned and the way his eyes had crinkled lines, indicating past merriment. He did resemble the pictures of my father that I had seen, but I was not going to fall in this trap. “Yes, Jon, I am your father. I am the same estranged individual you referred to as a coward. I am guilty of leaving you and Genevieve alone for all these years and I am very sorry for that. I had to do it for a reason. I couldn’t risk your safety, especially when the F.B.I. was after me. I will explain it all to you later. Right now, I really need you to do something for me. It is up to you to accept or decline, but it would be really helpful if you would agree.” "The F.B.I. is after him", I thought. What would this criminal want from me? I figured that this deranged man was not going to leave me alone, so I would have to play it cool. I needed to pretend that I was compliant to all of his terms and conditions.

“Okay, ‘Dad’. I believe you. What do you want me to do for you?” I said convincingly to my so called father as I poured on the flattery with fake tears in my eyes. “I always knew that you, my respectable and dignified father would never leave me and my mother alone for no reason. You had something important to do, didn’t you? It’s okay. I understand. I will do whatever you say.” Scott looked skeptical at first. After all, how simple do you think it would be to convince a random child that you were his father without the person not believing you? It would be pretty difficult, but I made his work easier for him. Scott’s disbelieving look melted off his face and he began to talk again. “All right, son. Are you sure about this? There’s no backing out now.” I was scared out of my mind, but I managed a simple nod. “Okay, here’s the plan…”