When he was younger, and long before I was born, my father used to hang out at a bar in Chicago after work. There was another regular there and eventually, afte

When he was younger, and long before I was born, my father used to hang out at a bar in Chicago after work. There was another regular there and eventually, after a few weeks, the two of them started up into friendly conversation and became good acquaintances. My father was running a small business at the time and easily joked about the agony of running a business, the other guy never really talked much about what he did. One day my father came home, and his wife at the time mentioned that a delivery many had just come by and dropped off an age-appropriate gift for their son (my oldest brother) the day before his birthday. My father had never mentioned where he lived, that he had a family or a son, his son's age, or birthday. He never went back to that bar again.