Chapter 19: Home Is Where the Heart Is

I stood outside of my mother’s front door, on the step where my father died in the dead of night, and I knocked, hard, over and over, looking around the neighborhood after each knock to see if Mr. Gathers or Mrs. Marsh or any of the other neighbors poked their head through the curtains.

“Who is it?” she finally called from somewhere inside, not close to the door, which meant I had to continue shouting.

“It’s Kurt,” I called back.

“Who?”

“Kurtis, Mom!” I waited for footsteps but none came. “It’s K...