Things moved sideways and for a while there was nothing but his staring eyes as he wavered on his feet. When he came to he had a moment of confusion as he tried to reconcile his past and the present. After a moment he remembered that he was not seventeen. He was soon to be twenty-five and he controlled his life.

Troy checked under the bed for his box of keepsakes. Sitting on the side of the bed, he opened the cigar box, surprised that his mother hadn't moved them. He ...