page1 (2/2)

His dad still got up at four everyto make it to the chicken factory by five where he worked a line, inspecting the packaging of the birds He earned hie By two in the afternoon, he was ho recliner where he re finally put him to sleep

Oh, yeah, that was a man Will wanted to be like Fuck if he’d allow hirades got hi chance he could get

“You paying attention, boy?” his dad asked, gaze on the field

No “Yes, sir”

“Good You should be out there playing instead of always fucking reading” His dad lifted the glass Snapple bottle he’d set between his feet and spit into it, adding to thethe bottle

Will’s stoazed at the field Look at that, all it took was a nasty bottle full of tobacco spit to ame

Football, sports in general, just weren’t his thing Never had been He was a book wors worked than running around outside Lately, he’d been gobbling up books on car engines Why couldn’t his father praise him for that? Didn’t men like cars?

“You’re tall enough to play this shit,” his dad went on as though Will was actually engaged in this conversation “Ortall, like me”

God, he hated any kind of siht

His dad lifted one of Will’s arly and li ar kicker”

“Stop it,” Will said, yanking his ar a ron and a few people over She wasn’t even pretending to hide her frown as she observed and probably listened to the interaction between Will and his father

As the game clock ticked doay too slowly, he let hiswith his father before he could get out of the house When he was younger, he’d had drea their shitty dust trap of an Arizona town and heading to a prestigious university Leaving this life behind andof himself

Recently, he’d read this account of a ht awherever he felt a connection Sounded a Perfect really To be that free He hadn’t been able to get the idea out of his mind

College probably wasn’t a realistic goal So far, he et a full ride anywhere And his faether Even if they did, it sure as hell wouldn’t be given to hioals To be realistic about what his life would be