My Life In 1992 A.D.

My Life in 1992 A.D.

BY: Joseph A. Monachino

Peter is having an estate sale of his father’s assets since he passed away a month before. He is starting with items in the attic. As he looks down at an old decrepit table, he sees an interesting, titled book. It’s titled: “My Life In 1992 A.D.” Peter promises himself that, when he gets home, he will sit down in his reclining chair in his living room and start reading this book to investigate if his father has any dark secrets that Peter doesn’t know about.

Peter gets home, takes off his shoes, and walks toward his reclining chair where he plants himself in the seat of it. He opens the book to the first page. The entry, that most interests him, is the one dated January 15, 1992. The entry states that he had an illegitimate son knock on his door that day. It goes on to state the dialogue that was exchanged between them. His illegitimate son’s name is Bob.

“Hi, I’m Bob, Martha Mann’s son.”

“She was an old girlfriend of mine.”

“That makes you my dad!”

Steve, Peter’s father, is stunned.

Steve goes on to say: “How did you find me?Better still, what do you want from me?”

Bob replies by saying: “ Listen, dad. You left my mother penniless after you got her pregnant with me.”

Peter can’t believe what he is reading. He now knows he has a half-brother he never knew he had before now. Peter is curious to know what resulted after their meeting. He continues reading the diary.

He turns the page of the diary and sees an entry dated January 20, 1992. What Steve wrote was the following entry.

‘ I believe he is my illegitimate son because Martha was an ex-girlfriend of mine. We had a torrid sexual relationship. But I never expected to get her pregnant.’

Peter makes sure that his mom, Rose, is not made aware of this dark history of his father’s past. Therefore, he stays quiet as he secretly hides the diary where his mom can’t access it; in his safe where only he has the combination.

Peter says to his mom: “Mom, I will continue the estate sale tomorrow. I am retiring to bed now.”

His mom replies: “Have a good night.”

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The next day, the estate sale is over for another day. Peter goes to his safe, takes out his father’s diary, and continues reading it.The next significant entry is January 21, 1992.

It reads: ‘I won’t let my illegitimate son sue me in court for retroactive child support. I will pay him with a check in a lump sum payment. Since it is winter, I will wait until June 1 to pay him at a location in Central Park here in New York City.’

At this point, Peter knows his father would not allow anyone to extort him for any amount of money. He figured his father did something sly to not allow this to happen.So, he continues reading the diary to see if he found himself a way out of this sticky situation.

Interestingly, the next entry he reads, dated January 30, 1992, indicates just that.

His father, Steve, wrote: ‘ All I have to do is date the check: June 1, 1991. I am hoping Bob won’t notice this discrepancy because, when he goes to deposit this check, it will be past the expiry date to deposit the check (1 year over the expiry date).’

Peter, after reading this entry, is ecstatic!He now keeps reading the diary to see what transpired after his father gave Bob the phony check. What Peter does is flip through the pages of the diary to get to the entry of June 1, 1992. This is the day the meeting took place. The June 1 entry makes for interesting reading.

Steve wrote the following: ‘ I have given Bob a check for one million dollars. He will be shocked when he deposits the check tomorrow, that it cannot be accepted because it is past the expiry date, which is today, June 1, 1992.’

Peter let’s out a satisfying laugh. He knows that his conniving half-brother was not able to successfully extort his honest father, Steve, of money that didn’t belong to him.

Peter realizes another fact. On June 2, 1992, his family moved to a new house. So, if Bob was to seek out Steve for the 1 million dollars, he would be out of luck in finding him because of the move. At this point, Peter wonders what Bob did to try to get the money that apparently was owed to him.

Peter sees another interesting entry as his eyes glide down the page. An entry dated June 8,1992 indicates that his father, Steve, was contacted by his bank. They told him that the check he gave to Bob was void because it was dated a year and a day earlier. Peter feels his father must have been gratified about this fact.

This isn’t where the story ends, though. Bob was determined to get his money. Steve knows that Bob returned to his previous address. That is because the new occupant of his old home, called Steve to tell him that someone had come to the house looking for him. The new tenant told Bob that Steve moved and did not know where to reach or contact him. All this was outlined in a diary entry dated June 10, 1992.

Peter feels he couldn’t be happier. That is because Bob never did track down his father.The inheritance that Peter got was substantial. He knows that he wouldn’t have gotten that amount of money if that fink, Bob, had gotten the 1 million dollars he wasn’t entitled to, as far as Peter was concerned.

The estate sale continues in order to sell most of his father’s belongings. Peter is gratified that all proceeds will go to him and his brother, Ted. Peter’s mom, Rose, will also get part of the proceeds as per the will’s specifications.

Peter reads the entry of July 4,1992 in his father’s diary. It states that the firework display signifies that his father is celebrating not having to give money to his illegitimate son because he cannot track him down.