I was rising from my chair to end the evening entirely.

But before I could, someone else at the table stood up first.

Chapter 6 — Liam Stands Up

It was my son, Liam.

He was ten years old, and he had been silent all evening, quieter even than usual, clutching to his chest the camera he had carried with him throughout the entire Florida trip.

He was a watchful child, my son, always had been, the kind of quiet boy who sees far more than he says, who sits at the edge of a room absorbing everything while the adults assume he is not paying attention.

He had spent the whole vacation with that camera pressed to his eye, and I had thought nothing of it, had assumed it was a passing enthusiasm, a boy playing with a new hobby.