“The Five-Forty-Eight” by John Cheeney
...xcuse why a man’s son should be packing his belongings and moving in with his friend. It is the duty of a father, and at the least, the duty of a man, to provide his son with everything he may need. Besides the materialistic components of life, the number one thing provided should be love and care. Blake is not even man enough to sit down with his kid and talk about what the problems may be. He has the audacity to go and rip his son’s friend’s father a new one. He even has the audacity to rip into the way his home his kept. In my eyes, I see a very selfish and arrogant man that does not see the picture right in front of him. While ripping into the man his son has chosen to live with, maybe he should be picking apart his own life, and start questioning why the hell his son would rather live in a “dump,” than with his own family. His father is never around, and when he is around, there does not seem to be much quality time between the two. I know if I saw my mother get treated the way Blake treated his wife, I would be livid, and definitely would not want to be near the situation. So Blake’s relationship with his son has gone to Hell, what about the woman who bore his child for nine months? What about the lady he swore to love for better or for worse, through sickness and in health? Well, in Blake’s eyes, this only applies if your wife stays hot. Why would you want to stay faithful and loving towards your wife if you can’t even stand to see her face any more? The thing that Blake does not seem to understand is he is the reason she is turning into what she is. He puts more stress on this poor woman than should be given out by the “man” who is supposed to be her best friend throughout her whole life. He is not supposed to punish her because she does not have his dinner ready. He is not supposed to cheat on her without her having a clue, yet he has no remorse about it. When Blake cheated on his wife, no sour thought or feeling of guilt remotely passed through his mind. When you fall in love with a woman, and take the vows you take, under God, you are becoming more and more of a man. Blake became a man, but threw it all away with what he has done to his wife and kid. So what about the woman he decided to cheat on his wife with? What about the woman Blake decided to have sex with, then fire the next day? What about the woman that took the last shred of manliness Blake had in him, and made it disappear with the sight of a gun. This action that Blake commits shows me everything I do not want to be when I start to become a responsible man. He does so many things wrong throughout his lifetime, and with this woman, he puts the icing on the cake. Blake gives this woman a chance t...