 Why have Sara and her father not spoken in over a year?
Divided we stand Sara lets the Lyft park itself in the drive, lets out a sigh, and tweets wish me luck plus some emojis before slipping her phone into a hoody pocket. Mom sighs, shoulders falling, looks at Sara directly. When they part it's Mom's hand that's on the bag's handle. Mom is already halfway up the stairs, bag in tow, headed for her room. "Mom, just leave that and I'll…" "Your father's in the front room," she says, just before she disappears from view. For a few seconds Sara is alone in the hallway, the smell of cooking meat coming from one doorway, the sound of rolling news from another. The war spills out of Fox News, casualty figures scrolling across monochrome drone footage, attack helicopters circling over Caracas apartment blocks, pundits with bronzed skin and immaculate blond hair smiling from four-way split screens. An elderly couple ride a tandem bicycle through a park, laughing and smiling in Instagram-perfect sunshine, as a calm, relaxing voice lists the potentially lethal side effects of a diabetes drug. There's a brief second, a fleeting moment, where Sara can bite her lip, let it go. Sara turns back to the TV, to watching the war, to trying to work out which one it is. Up until then it just seemed like constant warmth, as though she didn't have any childhood concept of Dad apart from him getting home from work, then her sitting on his knee, eating cookies and watching football highlights until Mom came in and scolded them both for ruining their appetites before dinner. Suddenly there was rap music and nose rings, sneaking out of the house to see her friends and not wanting to go to church. It was constant warfare; every opinion she had became a battle, every decision she made a conflict. And then politics got all crazy, weirder then ever, and it became impossible for them to talk without it erupting into fights almost instantly. Since her second year of school he'd never been to NYC to visit her. She came back when she could face it; sometimes for birthdays, sometimes for Thanksgiving. Dad is in the bathroom, and Sara has had enough of Fox and whichever war this is. It's signed in to her Dad's FB account, and the last thing she wants is to try and log in on hers before he gets back from the john.
 They have intense disagreements on most political issues.
 Sara attended college in New York and stayed there after graduating.  They have intense disagreements on most political issues.  Sara and her father voted for different presidential candidates.  Sara's father was an authoritative presence during her high school years.