Cy B. Hilterman

Book Review

Do you have the option to know your father? Thirty-eight year old Pete Mitchell had never known his father and he wanted to find him if possible and get to know him before it was too late. A short but interesting read as the author tells this story that contains good and bad parts of life and makes the reader question if they have had the privilege of knowing their parents. After all, our parents, in most cases, have gone through child birth, raised a young baby into youth, and hopefully into a successful life, all the while hoping and praying that the son or daughter will remain in heart and soul with those parents.

Pete had a wife and pre-teen sons all living together as a family should be. But Pete wanted to know his father so he started locally with other family members to find out how he could contact his father, finally getting some information from an aunt who told him she might help him locate his father through some other family members. Pete finally made the contact finding out that his father lived in England with Pete's younger brother and sister. Pete had always been told that his father wanted no parts of him. Finally contact was made with his father, who was not in good health. His sister was also not in good health but her problem was with drugs and pot. His father paid for an airline ticket for Pete to come and see him, as he really wanted to meet his son he had never seen. His brother, Dale, met him at the airport explaining that the sister, Ella, was in the hospital.

When Pete met his father all went pretty well between them. His father rewrote his will to give Pete his property in the islands. All the while Dale had been mooching all he could from his father, thinking that he would get everything when his father died. Dale was not happy when Pete showed up. Pete came back to the United States until he heard that his dad was in very bad health. He went again to England. The rest of the story you must read. Some of the language is roughly written, not in a bad way but in a way you might have to interpret a few words and passages. The story is meaningful and its message is clear, namely that all children should know their father.