His voice becomes calmer and almost sweeter. “Where’s my money? Please tell me you have that box.”

“How much do you owe this time?” she asks nervously.

“It doesn’t matter,” he says, and I wonder what they’re talking about.

“John, we can’t keep living like this. The last time you owed them money, they took our car.” Who took our car? I don’t remember that.

“I owe them thirty-five thousand,” he says, and my mother lets out a loud gasp.

“How?” she asks.

“The Rutgers game. I thought they would cover the spread. I had so much riding on that game. It would have paid off our debts. We would have had money in the bank for the first time in years.” He sounds upset and my mother starts to cry.

“Thirty-five thousand dollars. John, what the hell were you thinking? We could get help. My parents can help us out. Why are you throwing away our future?”

“If I don’t find that box, we may not have a future, Claire. They threatened to do some major damage this time if I can’t come up with the money.”

“What do you mean?” she asks, and she sounds really upset. I think she’s scared. My heart jumps into my throat and is beating wildly.

“They said that you and Garrett would pay if I couldn’t.”

“Oh my God.” I hear her rush down the hall, into their bedroom, and my father follows. What could happen to us? What would we pay with?

“Daddy? It’s Claire.” She must be on the phone. What’s going on?

I can barely hear her voice now, like she’s far away. About ten minutes later, the door flies open and my father’s voice is strained. “Don’t do this, Claire. Please. It’s all getting taken care of. Your parents are helping. Our lives can go back to normal now.” He’s pleading with her.

“My father will meet you at the diner in thirty minutes with a check to pay off these thugs. After that, I never want to see you in our home again. You will not put our lives in danger, and I refuse to allow our son to be used as a pawn. It’s over, John. Get out of my house.”

“Claire.” His voice begins to shake. “I’m sorry,” he says, and I hear my mom start to cry.

“No you’re not. This is the third time we’ve been in this same situation except now you’ve brought our family into it. Never again. Leave now. Daddy’s expecting you soon. Take what you want because the rest of your things will be in the trash tomorrow.”

She opens my door and I see my father standing in the hallway. I raise my hand slowly and wave goodbye.

She shuts the door and pulls me against her chest. “I’m sorry you heard that, honey. Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.”

I hear the front door close and his car start. My father’s gone and I don’t think he’s ever coming home.

“What were you building?” she asks. She’s happy now and she’s smiling. Her eyes look puffy, though.

“A big tower, but it was crooked. I didn’t like it.”

“I can see that.” She laughs and sits down on the floor next to me. “You know, I played with Legos when I was your age and I built some of the greatest towers ever.” She takes a large base piece and begins building a solid foundation. “Pass those red ones over to me.”

She quickly starts to add layer after colorful layer. The tower is almost as tall as I am before I know it. It’s wider at the bottom and smaller at the top. “That’s pretty cool, Mom.”

“It’s perfectly balanced, see?” She leans back. I think she likes her tower.

I take one of the Lego guys and stand him on the top. “Look! A super hero,” I say, and I can hear her taking deep, calming breaths.

“Mom, am I going to see Daddy again?” I ask, afraid of the answer.

“I don’t know, Garrett. I hope so. Now, where’s that Lego Millennium Falcon you got for your birthday?” She looks around the room, trying to find it.

“In my closet,” I say and jump up, excited. I find it on the shelf and bring it back to her. I almost knock over the tower, but she grabs it before it can fall over. She moves it against my bookcase and it looks like it will be okay.

“I’ve always wanted to do this one. They didn’t have it when I was your age. Legos back then were a bit simpler.”

“I guess I’m lucky then, huh?” I say and shrug my shoulders. I wonder what it was like back when my mom was a little girl. I can’t imagine her playing Legos. I only picture dolls and flowers. “Didn’t you have tea parties and stuff back then?”

She says softly, “I was a bit of a tomboy. I played sports with my brothers and didn’t have too much time for dolls.” She has four brothers who are my uncles. They’re all cool, but I barely see them because they live in North Carolina. I have like ten cousins too that I hardly ever see.

“Can I be Darth Vader?” I ask her when we dump the contents of the box onto my rug.

“You can be anything you want, Garrett.” She rubs the back of my head and pulls me against her for a hug. “And I mean that for the rest of your life. You know I’ll support you in anything you want to do,” she says.

“I want to be a garbage man. It’s so cool that they get to drive a big truck!” I exclaim, and Mom laughs.

“That sounds like it would be a lot of fun.” She smiles and begins to separate the bags of Legos. She lines them up in number order.

“Why don’t we try to put together the first two bags tonight, and we’ll work on the rest of it throughout the week.”

I nod. “Yeah, this could take a while and it’s already dark outside.”

She rips open the first bag and dumps out the pieces. I immediately find the figures and assemble Darth Vader, Princess Leia, and Han Solo. There are a few Storm Troopers too.

Mom smiles as she begins to put together the pieces that will make up the Millennium Falcon. I play-fight with the figures. Darth Vader tries to beat up Han Solo, but Princess Leia kicks his butt.

I really enjoy these times with my mom. I just wish my dad could be here too.

Hopefully once those people get their money, he can come home, just like he said.

Sam

Past

Villanova, Pennsylvania

Age 7

“DADDY, LOOK!” I SCREAM as I’m about to jump into the deep end of the pool. He waves and his smile is huge. I know I’m going to make him so proud by finally being brave.

My feet hit the cool water first and I feel it rush through my toes and up my legs. I squeeze my nose closed as tight as I can, suck in lots of air and hold my breath. My heart is pounding as the rest of my body sinks below the surface. I kick my legs as fast as I can, trying to reach the sunlight through the water. The muffled sound of clapping hands becomes louder as my head pops out of the water and I take huge gulps of air.

“Great pencil dive, Sam!” Daddy yells from the porch. He’s surrounded by his friends from work. We’re having a party to celebrate his secretary’s retirement, and everyone loves her so much, they wanted to come and share this special day with her. Lucy is super sweet and she says she’s going to travel the world with her husband. She’s old, like fifty or sixty. I don’t know why she waited so long to follow her dream of seeing things like the Eiffel Tower and the Tower of London. Lots of towers. Kind of seems boring.

Her granddaughter, Cassie, is my age and she’s here too. She’s a really good swimmer and taught me how to jump into the deep end. Today’s the first day that I’m not wearing my swimmies.

“Woo-hoo!” Cassie says from the diving board. “It’s my turn now!”

My heart is beating fast as I try to paddle to the shallow end. My arms feel really heavy and it’s hard to keep my head above the water. My toes scrape along the bottom of the pool that is the slope leading to shallower water. I’m almost there.