When Dan Jones of the New York Times called about publishing one of my stories for Modern Love, I was delighted. I was also determined not to let him know I had a drug history. Dan had emailed me that he thought my story might work well for Father’s Day and wanted to discuss it more by phone. I immediately thought: Don’t tell him about the drugs. He’ll think you’re a loser. But then when he called, we talked for less than five minutes before my drug history came up.
It went something like this:
“So if your son was in Pennsylvania with your ex-wife, what were you doing in New York City?” Dan asked.
I chuckled demurely. Lying seemed like a bad idea.
“Well,” I said taking a deep breath. “That’s another story.”
Present Tense 