It could imagine my son in trouble far more easily than it could imagine my son being that good.

I think that says something sad about what we expect of the world, and something beautiful about my son, that he exceeded even the most generous thing I was capable of imagining., and so I made a decision.

The next day, I would sit Caleb down, and I would not accept fine, and I would not let him go up the stairs, and I would demand the whole truth, whatever it was.

I never got the chance.