by Andy Straka
“Uh-huh.” He snuffled, turning to wipe his nose on the sleeve of his pajamas. “Momma told me. And I was watching the television too in the kitchen.” He bit his lip, still staring at the oversized flakes outside.
“Did you know a lot of it has to do with your daddy?”
His face went wide with expression and he turned and looked at me. “It does?”
My gaze met his. “You know what a hero is, Jason?”
He stuck out his chin as if insulted by the question. “Yeah. A course. I seen ‘em on TV.”
“Well, did you know that there are some heroes—a lot, in fact—who never get seen on television?”
“They don’t?”
“Nope.”
“How come?”
“It’s because only a few people know about them. And that has to be enough.”
He nodded.
“Your daddy was a great man.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And I think you should know something. He was a hero, one of those kinds of heroes I was just telling you about.”
“He was?”
“That’s right. The men you saw getting arrested on the TV were the men wearing the masks you saw up in your woods. If your daddy hadn’t started the ball rolling by standing up to them, a whole lot of other people might’ve died.”
The boy nodded some more and his eyes began to tear up.
“And you want to know what else, Jason?”
“What?” he asked, his Up trembling and his voice beginning to crack.
“That makes you a hero too.”
“Yes, sir,” he said, almost choking on the words.
He began to sob.
I let him at first. Then I held out an arm. He put one thin knee on my leg, wrapped his skinny arms around my neck, and climbed up in my lap in order to bury his face in my chest. I cupped my hand around one of his small shoulders and felt them shake against me. The snow made whispering sounds against the window. A storm was raging somewhere in the clouds above.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Acknowlegements
Author's Note
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36