hotdogs and burnt s

r, sicken

the volunteer fire depart

he old wooden tower, pl

mmered agai

The day my li

ime, h

ed without thinkin

uined hand, a lost arts scholarship, a

ed debt, then spent years mak

our children, "She' s why

light," who somehow ended up w

ret, in a sterile room at

w, I w

day, the

off, one hand on

about t

ould gasp.

o

washed over

looded in, sha

s affairs. The way he poiso

d sneer, even as he fli

endless nights I c

tom pain, the ghost of crush

thering dust. My dr

I would cho

escent. The wood groa

nailed to the

' t move

face the consequences

rnative, that life of quiet desperat

chance. My

olarship. To

ut Jake. Wit

took another step.

not with fear, b

oot missed