Faded Dreams
Cameron watched his dad mow the lawn on a hot Texas morning. The racket annoyed the neighbors, and his dad would curse when he mowed over a stick, launching shrapnel at speeds that would rival a Mariano Rivera pitch. "It really dulls the mower blade when I hit these sticks, plus the debris could really hurt someone," his dad would say. "You need to move them out of my way, Cameron." Cameron —conflating disrespect with independence — would pick up sticks with an eye roll. Cameron's reaction reminded his dad, Matthew, of moonlit racoon hunts with his own father, Gable. Gable would park his rusty pickup at the hunting grounds, whistle for his coonhounds, then reverently remove his shotgun from the bed of the truck. Gable would ask Matthew to wait in the hunter's lobby while he and the dogs chased coons in the woods. Matthew knew better than to show his dissatisfaction or his father might call him "ungrateful" or, ...