"I knew you'd be coming around sometime today." Phillip Ramsey greeted me as I walked up to the home that the majority of the Ramseys were living in. He was sitting on a wooden chair on the porch, enjoying a cigar and the cool afternoon after the sun had gone down. His hair was coal black, and his stomach hung over and rested on his legs. The man was a lawyer and a politician, and according to Pearl he was born for lying. Still, he was nothing but polite and almost humble each time I saw him. I respected him almost as much as I respect my own father.

"Yes, sir." I said, stepping up a bit closer to the porch. "I've been around your daughter a lot lately, and it's just kind of strange to be away from her." He nodded and exhaled the smoke from his cigar, looking out on the seemingly endless plains.

"Come and sit down with me, boy." He said, gesturing to the chair next to him. His voice was loud, and thick with an accent that almost sounded french. From what I understood, French was his first language, and all of his children knew how to speak or at least understand it. "No need to be scared. I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want to talk about some things."

And so I sat down in the chair next to him. He offered me a cigar but I declined out of nervousness. We sat in the silence of the lukewarm night and he finished his cigar only to light up another one. And as I sat there with him, I realized that he was a lot like my own father. My father made his life with an unhonest profession, but deep down he was a good man. He did what he felt he had to do. I voiced this to Mr. Ramsey and he laughed, long and loud.

"I hear so many good things about your father, so I'm flattered to be compared to him." He laughed again, and choked on his own smoke. "But, like your father, or at least like what I've heard about him, I did not choose my own profession. It was more of something I fell into. From what I understand, your father fell into crime because he was raised around it. I fell into being a lawyer and a politician because that's what my father was, and his father before him."

I nodded solemnly, and he continued. "I realize that I do not have what I could call an ideal job. Sometimes, I have to lie to people. Sometimes, I have to lie for people. Sometimes, I even have to defend someone that I know is wrong." He shook his head. "I do it because it is my job, and because I know nothing else. I have three children, a wife, and a sister-in-law to provide for. I cannot afford to play a hero."

"I understand, sir."

"But you, kid, you have your whole life ahead of you." He elbowed me gently. "You could do anything you damn well pleased if you set your mind to it. I know because I see it in your face. You've got determination, and that's the best thing to have in the world. You are young and strong and you've got nothing holding you down."

He took another drag of his cigar. "My daughter, on the other hand, has a lot of things she has to overcome. She is a woman, and that automatically puts a staple on the girl. I do not care, the girl could run for president if she sought to do so, but it's not me that's the problem. The rest of the world just look at her and they see a pretty face and a nasty attitude. To a lot of people, that automatically makes her trash. Like a mule that won't work, like a horse you can't ride."

"Her mother and aunt are only trying to help her. They are only harsh because they don't understand. It's like they are speaking two different languages. My wife thinks the girl needs a husband who will placate her, but I think she needs a husband who understands her. My wife thinks she needs to be punished, but I think she just needs to be shown another way of things."

"My wife does not have a temper, I assure you. She only worries for her daughter. But my wife tends to run away from things she does not understand. She did not understand our eldest son's love for our Chinese maid, so she sent him away and fired the maid. She did not understand our youngest son's need for special attention, so she sent him away too. And now she does not understand why our only daughter wants to live with some sort of wild abandon."

"So, my wife brings home some men for my daughter to meet. They are all terribly boring, and they sweat when I look at them, and they look at my daughter the same way they look at everyone else. They are like crackers with no salt. Boring, and difficult to take. Then my daughter brings you home. She likes you. You bring a new, kind of, life to her. You may not talk much, but when you do you seem to have something good to say. You talk to me honestly, and you look at my daughter like you have known her for a thousand years."

"Pardon me, sir, but I don't really understand what you're getting at here."

"Well then I just cut to the chase, I want you to marry my daughter."

My throat went dry and I coughed for a moment. "I don't know if I can do that, sir."

He laughed again, long and loud, and he slapped his knee while he was at it. "Another thing to like about you. Marriage is not something to take so lightly. If you would've said yes right away, I might have changed my mind. But you are my ideal son-in-law, because you remind me of my eldest son a bit. I think if you met him, you would be great friends. Maybe if there were a wedding, he could come down to visit."

"Sir, no offense, but I've known your daughter a little over a month and you want us to get married? Don't you think that's a little impractical?"

"My daughter is impractical. She is not a realist. She does not measure life by days or months. She measures life by how beautiful the stars are and how she feels about things. It's beautiful to hear her speak about things, but it can hurt her more than you possibly imagine. She's had boyfriends before, but she's never kept them long. Maybe a week at most. You've stayed around the longest, and you are a, uh, unique kind of person."

I shook my head. "I don't really know if I can do that."

"You take all the time to think about it that you need. I'm not trying to scare you or push you into anything, kid. Like I said before, marriage is not a something to take so lightly, and I will not be angry at you if you say no. I just hope you would say no for the right reasons, as well as I hope you would say yes for the right reasons."

"That's a lot to think about, sir. I'm only 20 years old."

"Well, how old were your parents when they got married?"

"My father was 35, and my mother was 31."

"Really? And how old were they when you were born?"

"Uh, my mother was 18, and my father was 22, I think."

"Well, I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised. I'm sure it's difficult to get a marriage license when you're running from the law, no offense. So tell me, what reasons do you have for not wanting to marry my daughter?"

"Well, I dunno if I want to talk about this, sir."

"Come on, it's not like anything that's said here is going to be repeated. You have my word."

"Well, I haven't really known her that long, and I don't even know how I feel about her."

"Well, that's easy enough to figure out. What would be your reaction if she died tomorrow? If this house burned to the ground with her inside of it, how would you take that?"

"Well, I would be sad-"

"Sad how? Would you cry about it once and never again? How long would you be sad?"

"It would be really difficult, and I would probably think about it for the rest of my life."

"And if tomorrow she had to marry some man she absolutely hated, and he beat her every day and made her feel like trash, what would you do then?"

"Well I don't know, I-"

"Come on, son. This is about quick answers. Don't think about what you're saying, just say what you feel. Would you just leave it alone because she would be married? What would you do?"

"I would still come around, I would have to."

"And what if you saw him strike her?"

"I would strike him."

"There we go. And why would you have to still come around, even if she were married? Because you care about her. You want to know what I think?"

"Sure."

"I think she loves you far more than you love her at this point. But I do think that you love her, just that you realize you've only known her for so long. That's where you two are different, kid. You think about what's real. You think about the real problems, while my daughter just runs with whatever she has. That's why I think that she needs you. I think you have the ability to bring her back to reality without making it all crash down on her head."

I swallowed hard. "That's a lot of pressure, sir."

"Yes, well, I'm just being honest with you. It's still up to you, and if you ever want to talk about something, I am here to discuss it with you. You can go now, if you'd like. I'm done bugging you."

"Can I see Pearl before I go?" I asked. He smiled and flicked the ashes off of the end of his cigar, which was almost gone at this point.

"Of course you can."