My Son Struck Me Thirty Times at His Birthday Dinner. The Next Morning, I Sold the Mansion He Thought He Owned.

No dramatic speech.

It was the sort of detail I would have dismissed in the old days because it did not seem grand enough to matter.

Now I kept a copy.

PART 5B — THE ACCOUNTING

Near the end of that summer, Howard invited me to his office for a final review of the foundation’s first financial report.

There were no photographers, no champagne, and no speeches.

We sat at the same table where I had signed the sale documents on the morning after Trevor’s birthday.