“Sal said on the phone that you tried to do it again.

And last night you came home like this.

Caleb, what happened at that creek?”

It was Sal who answered first, stepping forward and laying a big gentle hand on my son’s shoulder.

“That’s why I called you, ma’am,” he said.

“About an hour ago, one of my line cooks was out back and saw Caleb come running down the alley behind the diner, looking like he’d been through something.

Turns out there are a couple of older boys, high-school kids, troublemakers who hang around the park.