3/5/2009
27
Lieutenant Paul Bolang
“But it is not the
profession of the family Bolang. We have honor and position to
uphold. I cannot allow my only son to spit in my
face to fulfill his desires. What of my desires? What of the desires
of your family?”
Paul
looked slowly around the formal table. The crystal, china, and
silver were lifeless and inhuman. The sudden stillness of each
of the members of his family turned them into caricatures as lifeless
as these inanimate objects. His father’s hands were balled
into fists. His unblinking eyes flashed their intense displeasure.
His mother looked on Paul with pity, as though he was
throwing away the future generations of the family Bolang. His
sisters sat in stony and unmoving silence. No one risked the displeasure
of their father and no one willfully disobeyed him.