The Sob

Summary

• The protagonist navigates through Seattle’s bustling streets, visiting the address Michelle Yates gave him which leads him to the offices of Brinks Development.
• He is surprised to find the offices are located behind a plain gray door within a nondescript apartment building in a hip neighborhood bustling with cafes and vintage shops.
• Upon entering the building, he discovers a small basement lounge, Mudmindow’s Bespoke Libations. Expecting a shiny office tower, he is initially confused but determines that this may be the way successful people do business in Seattle.
• He meets Simon Brinks, the man the protagonist believes to be his father. Simon appears to already know the protagonist's name, Cameron, and knows that Cameron came searching for information about his parents.
• Simon discloses that while he was close friends with Cameron’s mother, Daphne, during high school, he is not Cameron’s biological father.
• Overwhelmed, Cameron challenges Simon’s truthfulness, presenting a class ring with the inscription EELS, photographs of Daphne and Simon together, and countless bills that Evans Broadcasting Company had paid over the years.
• Simon denies the ring is his, explaining he had his own class ring inscribed with his initials SOB. He fetches an identical ring from his storage, puzzling Cameron as he compares the two rings.
• Brinks reveals that Mudminnow’s Bespoke Libations was actually a dream he and Daphne had conceived together as teenagers, they imagined owning a space like it together someday.
• Cameron leaves, still confused by the turn of events, and feeling no closer in his quest to find his true father.