B-Day, as it came to be known, finally arrived. It was a Friday. A school day. I identified with Cinderella as I watched Dad get ready for work. Holster, check. Gun, check. Billy club, check. Handcuffs, check. . . . Saturday morning I got up early. Dad was already gone. Back to work. Ushering the Beatles out of town. On the table . . . there were two small bars of soap, slightly used, the words "Coach House Inn" still legible. One book of matches with four missing. And a note from Dad, "From their room." . . . No one else's dad comes home from work with something that might, just might, have been intimate with a Beatle.
Growing up, Mel Miskimen thought that a gun and handcuffs on the kitchen table were as normal as a gallon of milk and a loaf of Mrs. Karl's bread. Her father, a Milwaukee cop for almost forty years was part Super Hero (He simply held up his hand and three lanes of traffic came to a screeching halt) and part Supreme Being (He could be anywhere at anytime. I never knew when or where he would pop up.) Miskimen's memoir, told in humorous vignettes, tells what it was like for a girl growing up with a dad who packed a lunch and packed heat.

Author: Mel C. Miskimen
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Published: 08/18/2003
Pages: 138
Weight: 0.68lbs
Size: 8.82h x 5.24w x 0.72d
ISBN: 9780299188801


Review Citation(s):
Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2004 pg. 105 - Strongly Recommended

About the Author
Mel Miskimen is a lifelong Milwaukee resident and an actor, writer, and humorist who regularly appears on the Higher Ground program on Wisconsin Public Radio.