Fathers Day Post, Now and Back Then

Today is Father’s Day, Hallmark’s other highly successful marketing ploy. Cynicism towards commercially inspired holidays aside—

I’m lucky that my father Frank is alive, at age 95 still living a life split between acts of service to others through church and hospital volunteerism, and mutually giving and receiving care with my step-mother Della, and taking well-deserved naps. Pop will also talk your ear off about the adventures he’s experienced in his long life. Gotta love the old guy, so, Happy Father’s Day, Pop.

I’m lucky that both our sons are now fathers, and grasp the importance of that job. So, Happy Father’s Day, Ben and Todd. Nita and I are incredibly proud of you. And thanks for the grandkids. Keep ’em coming.

To keep this a blog about my Civil War novels, I’ll mention that fatherhood is a facet of the three McBee novels, a major facet, I hope. In fact, there are two fatherhood threads running through the ongoing plot.

Early in the first book, Captain John unwittingly, but without too much protest, lets himself become a secret seed-donor for a woman desperate to become a mother after eleven years of a barren marriage. Yeah, I know that’s a tough job I wrote into the first book for the main character, but…

To be fair, neither seed-donor nor woman intend for there to be any sort of relationship once he’s made his seed delivery. Silly woman. Naïve man. Both should have known that life is never that simple. I hope you, my blog readers have, or will, read the books to see how that non-intervention plan worked out.

The other fatherhood thread in the McBee novels was one of the questions I initially imagined as a driving force in the plot: Who’s Levi’s daddy?

Since you are still reading my blog posts, (thank you for including my blog in your reading life) you have likely read Tangled Honor, the first McBee novel. If, however, you haven’t met John McBee, Faith, and Levi, I’m about to be a spoiler.

Side Note: Who’s your daddy? is a phrase that has wormed its way into our culture, likely with racist provenance, likely going back to two of the most foul aspects of the foul institution of pre-Civil War American slavery: The acceptance of white men raping young black women for pleasure, and the literal breeding of slaves to produce better, stronger workers.

Mulatto (half-white) slave Levi is a product of the first foul aspect. Who’s your daddy? plays directly into the McBee story, as 20-year-old Levi is loaned to 40-year-old Captain McBee to be his body-servant—McBee’s personal slave valet and cook for the duration of the war.

Captain John McBee naively thought his seed donation to an essentially anonymous woman would be a one-night dreamlike experience, pleasurable, but quickly over and forgotten. I've tried to create John McBee as a character with a normal man’s tendency to compartmentalize the various aspects of life, and ignore early warning signs of interesting times ahead. 

Levi started as just another servant, a way for McBee to avoid the onerous personal chores that officers in armies throughout time have passed off to others, be they squires in the days of knights, or more recently, enlisted soldiers serving as aides, or in the Confederate army, body-servants who were black slaves. McBee simply didn’t see the Who’s Your Daddy? train coming when mulatto Levi, borrowed from his own mother, became his servant, sharing daily experiences and even nursing his battle wounds.

Just as I did with the Faith and John’s early reticent relationship, I tried to fold a growing mutual respect into the Levi and John, slave and master, relationship. Enough so that the question of Who’s your daddy? is a credible one to ask.

As the author, I’d love some feedback as to how well the first two McBee novels portrayed that growing master and slave relationship. Since I’m still writing the last novel, there is yet time to adjust, if that’s needed.

Back to Father’s Day 2016, in my real life, through volunteering with the Salvation Army, I talk to young mothers seeking financial assistance. More often than not, the father does not live with the woman and children. Not all the time, but usually, the young woman admits to not receiving child support. Reasons abound: Prison, unemployment, alcoholism, a new wife, whatever.

I view those guys with disdain. No, not disdain, I view them with anger and disgust. They have chosen to be seed-donors, but not fathers. Young unrestrained men who on a practical level, practice rape, not so much different from the white man-slave woman rapes of pre-Civil War America. 

Not all men need to be fathers. Some should never let themselves become fathers. But, if you are a father, if your seed causes a life to grow in some sweet gal, by God, be that kid’s father. It's a lifetime commitment.

OK, that’s off my chest for a while. 

Now, as I finish the third McBee book I need to make sure that my main character winds up the good father that I damn well expect him, and all of us seed-donors, to be.

To you readers who are dads--Happy Fathers Day! Hug your sweetie, spend some time with the kiddos in your life. And, by all means, have a cold beer sometime today. It’s our day.

And at 8 pm this evening, I’m going to be watching the big battle on Game of Thrones. Maybe young Bolton will find himself flayed on his own timber X. He is such a vicious villain, I can't applaud him, but I can take my hat off to the writer who thunk him up. I've learned there's an art to crafting a truly bad guy. Maybe I'll write a blog post devoted to my villains sometime soon.