In John Cheever’s story “Reunion,” a boy who hasn’t seen his father in the three years since his parents divorced, has one hour to spend with him in Grand Central Station. The dad spends that time in search of a drink and the hour ends without their having talked at all. The boy says, “That’s all right, Daddy,” but they never see each other again. For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true value of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.
