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“Soly, you’ll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life”

-Pablo Neruda

Prologue

Jackson

Ten Years Old

What a stupid dog

I’d spent years trying to talkh to care for an anih I couldn’t

Nobody told me puppies never shut up or listened

Dad said it was prettya kid—because I kind of never shut up or listened either “But the love is worth it,” he’d say whenever I co bad “It’s alorth it”

“Always and always,” Ma would agree

The word “always” see me so much

It was pastI’d been working on Ma taughtwatercolors, and I knew I could beco

Tucker kept whie to the picture He nudged atit all over

“Argh!” I groaned, going to get a towel from the bathroom to clean up the mess

Stupid dog

When I ca in the corner of my room

“Tucker, no!”

I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to the backdoor of the house as he lowered his ears

“Tucker, coo outside to use the bathrooh he was a big black lab, he was pretty much still a baby at only four

“Go!” I barked at hi because it was already pastbeforeto be so proud of me

One day, I’d be able to paint as good as her—if only that dog would leave me alone!

Tucker whis “Co baby”

I tried to push him into the backyard, but he wouldn’t let ainst the patio, and when a loud clap of thunder roared, Tucker booked it pastroom