Foxhole

This was Stan Nelchik’s first Father’s Day without his dad. The father of three girls himself, Stan was inherently protective, and came to believe in his father’s admonition that he was meant to be a “girl father,” not having the ability to handle a son.

“With boys, you gotta spit things out,” the senior Nelchik had always advised. “You can’t keep anything from them.”

But now, as Stan faces his first Father’s Day as a parent without his dad, he has to come to grips with the truth—his father, contrary to his own advice, had kept something from him, releasing it only on his death bed.

A visit from a stranger forces Stan into a decision that makes him realize just how difficult fatherhood can be—even when it doesn’t involve a member of your family.

A short story.