Scattered

Chris Garcia’s dad had one dying wish: That his family scatter his ashes off the coast of Cuba -- the country he was born in, and the country that would break him. Chris’s mom? She doesn’t give a crap about dying wishes. She’s vowed to never go back to Cuba again.

So for now, the ashes are sitting on a shelf in a closet, between a Paul McCartney record and a Gizmo Halloween mask. As Chris tries to do right by his dad, he sets out to uncover the truth about a man he barely knew, who survived Castro’s labor camps only to lose his way in search of the American dream.

Scattered, a new podcast from WNYC Studios, drops on October 23rd

Chris’s dad was a classy guy. Whenever he met one of his son’s girlfriends, he’d extend his hand, give her a firm handshake and say, “Soy Andrés, a tus pies.” Which means, “I’m Andres, I serve at your feet.”

Andres carried his wife’s purse when they went out, taught Chris to throw a knuckle ball by age eight, and loved a good joke at Fidel Castro’s expense. But behind it all was a dark past that Chris was too scared to ask about.

Fellow comedian Karen Kilgariff (My Favorite Murder) and Chris Garcia are members of the same sad club: they both lost their parents to Alzheimer’s. Karen tells Chris about caring for her mom, her too-real stand-up set, and how Alzheimer's is like the movie Jaws .

When Andres asked the Cuban government for permission to leave the country in 1969, he got a letter with a set of instructions.

Was it torture, or treatment?