The American Father Summary

The author's father was born in San Francisco in 1903. However, he might have been born in some other time or at some other place. The author remembers several locations, which are strongly reminiscent of her father. For example, she recollects a particular cellar with a well, which was considered dangerous, a particular house's attic, and most of all, a particular gambling hall.

The author's father, Ed, runs a gambling hall for another, richer, man. Ed performs all of the work of the gambling hall. The preferred method of gambling appears to be the selection of words to form poetry, followed by the random drawing of words from a large box. The gamblers with the most words drawn win the pot. Ed not only cleans and runs the gambling establishment, he also pretends to own it. The police raid the...