CHIEFS — JOSHUA BOHNSACK
/I remember the day my mom left because I watched a guy say “fuck you” on live TV for the very first time. I heard my parents say it to each other a thousand times a day, but there was something special about the response on the sportscaster’s face when a drunk football fan in red and gold face paint put a hand on his shoulder and shouted those two beautiful words to the camera.
I don’t remember what my mom said as she shook my shoulders for the last time. I don’t remember the pattern on our wallpaper or the way Dad pounded his fist against the wall or the color of my mom’s car as it spit gravel against the windows. I don’t remember how long I lived at my grandma’s house. I don’t remember what I did when I heard my mom’s voice on the answering machine apologizing for all those late nights and how she appreciated that her son was being taken care of. Or, actually, I remember doing nothing but listening to her recording a sobbing message. I guess I don’t remember why I didn’t pick up the phone and ask her why she didn’t come back home, but I probably knew the answer.
I remember the first time I went to a Chiefs game and how everyone raised their hand as if it were an ax, chopping the air on each first down. I remember thinking it would cost a lot of money to change the name of everything involved with the football team. I remember wondering how they did it when the Rams relocated. I remember thinking this and not paying attention to the winning touchdown.
I remember the Boulevard beer tasting too flat for eight dollars at a bar close to the stadium. I remember when the reporter and camera walked into the bar ready to ask us what we thought of the game. And I remember thinking of my mom as the reporter approached me with a microphone and I looked into the camera and said, “Fuck you.”
Joshua Bohnsack is the author of Shift Drink (Spork Press) and his work has appeared in The Rumpus, Hobart, SAND, and others. He is an editor for TriQuarterly and Long Day Press, and lives in Chicago where he works as a bookseller.
