Charlie's Free Sombrero

Charlie didn't know about me
Until our Dad died
And ditto for me
I didn't know about Charlie either

My Dad never talked about a kid
Or another family
Or anything like that

So we--me and my mom
We were pretty surprised
When he died
To find out that he'd left some money and stuff
To Charlie and his brother

Uh, I guess I felt sort of betrayed
At the time and I--

Oh, sorry

This isn't about me
This is about Charlie

Well, his brother didn't want to meet me
Which is, uh, understandable
I understand him being mad

I got my whole life with my Dad
And they got less than fifteen years
And that has to be pretty hard

I was scared that when I met Charlie
He'd want to know why Dad left him and his family
And I was scared because I didn't have an answer for that
And I wanted to tell him that I was mad
That I was really mad too
Because there really aren't any answers
About any of that

So...

We met at a Mexican restaurant
Where everybody wears sombreros
And I think we ordered quesadillas
And lots and lots of alcohol

Charlie seemed as nervous as I was at first
But once we started drinking
We actually were doing well, you know
With conversation and even laughing and stuff

I think at one point
A waiter came by
And put two of those sombreros on our heads
And took our photo

I asked Charlie why he did that
And he said that when you order as many margaritas as we did
You get the sombreros for free

Finally I worked up enough courage
To ask him if he had any questions about Dad

He shook his head like he was going to say 'No'
And then he said--

'Did he ever take you fishing?'

And he did
He took me fishing
A bunch of times
But something about the way Charlie was looking at me
Made me say--

'No.  Never.'

Soon as I said it
I knew it was the right answer

But I asked Charlie--

'Did he ever take you fishing?'

And Charlie said--

'Yeah.  Once.'

And that was it
As far as Dad went

We finished our lunch
Exchanged a friendly drunken hug

I told him I'd take care of all the funeral stuff
But he offered to pay for some of it anyway
And when I tried to tell him it wasn't necessary
He insisted, so I said gave in

Once all that was settled
We sort of lost touch

I'd call every now and again
But I could tell that Charlie
Was sort of a loner

Funnily enough, his brother came around
We met and subsequently developed
A pretty decent friendship

We go fishing, that sort of thing

He's the one who told me about Charlie's divorce
And his estrangement from his daughter
And all that kind of stuff

I felt bad for Charlie
But I'm not too good at reaching out to people
Who need me

Maybe that's something I get from my Dad

I still have that photo though
Of me and Charlie
In the sombreros

Looking like the best of friends