Johnny Cade's Daughter #2

The mysterious note kept me up at night. I Googled what I could, but it was no help. Yes, my father was a mystery. If he really wanted see me, why couldn't he just show up? Would Mom be that mad?

Of course, she was her usual upbeat self. Naturally, I didn't ask her any questions. She seemed OK with everything, lately.

Sure our house was old, but snug. New windows and even a new bathroom. What more could one want?

Well, I could think of a few things. Like a boyfriend. Maybe.

But I didn't have time for that. Maybe it was best to let this mystery linger and hope another clue fall into place. I didn't want to look too hard, or mom might start wondering about me and my grades. That would not be a good thing.

I'm not saying I'm an all A student, but if I work at it... a little, well at least I'm a B student. You know, I like being in the middle. I guess.

And then we got a new English teacher. That was the last thing I was expecting.

And his name was Mr. Cade.

Johnny Cade's Daughter

Not many people know of my real father.

Some guy named Bob is on the birth certificate, but it wasn't like he stayed around after my mom, April had me.

My name is Lily and I live on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. But I'm not a cowgirl. I've never been on a horse. I can count the number of my friends on one hand. Seriously, I am a good daughter.

If it wasn't for my Aunt Cherry, I wouldn't know a thing.

Yeah, my real Dad.. Johnny Cade got beat up a lot by Bob (ugh..I can hardly write his name. He's just some beach bum now, trying to get lucky in Florida)..as my aunt told me. Bob and the socs (a fancy name for a poor little rich boy's gang) really did a number on my dad.

It was like he had a bad PTSD, and he was only trying to finish high school.

Back then, when Cherry was in high school, she didn't even know about April and Johnny. It was definitely a sad time to be in school. But then again, has it gotten any better?

Anyway, she finally confided in me, what went down. How Johnny helped out a friend, or maybe it was a friend helping out him. After all, the gang was the only family my Dad knew..well, aside from my mom.

I wish she would talk about him. Only, she doesn't want to talk anymore about the past. She works at a dentist office. We are quietly hidden in suburbia.

Except, this week, I found a note, tucked under the front door when I got home from school.

To my surprise, it was from J.

He said he'd seen me, and would like to meet me, but I probably wouldn't recognize him.

I dunno, if I can tell Mom about this. Not yet.

I really want to know the real Johnny Cade. I need to know what happened. Where has he been all these years? And why didn't he ask about Mom?