The Son

by Philipp Meyer

She watched a car pass, roiling up the dust, a white man taking four Mexicans to work. License number 7916. Seventy-nine times sixteen. It seemed impossible. She did not see how the man had done it. And yet he had.

I had hoped this was a subtle reference to taxicab numbers, but it isn't. The only four digit taxicab number is 1729.

He got great satisfaction crossing things off his list; sometimes he would write things he had already done (breakfast with Jeannie) just to cross them off again.

I totally do that! Only, instead of crossing things off, I draw little boxes I can check.

“I am Peter McCullough’s daughter.” This meant nothing as well. Then it did. She reached for the doorknob. “Peter McCullough did not have any daughters,” she said. “I’m afraid you are mistaken.” “He is my father,” the woman repeated. When Jeannie didn’t react, the woman got an imperious look. “You are my niece,” she said. “Regardless of our ages.”

This has been bugging me the entire book. Early on I got confused about who was who's parent. I checked Wikipedia and discovered there is a TV show about this book, and in the show it says Jeannie is Pete's daughter, but the way she talks about her father doesn't jive with what we know about Peter. Either Wikipedia is wrong, or the TV show is different from the book (suspect the latter). At least now I have the definitive answer.