NARRATIVE of WARD COURIER, Continued

April, 2012

SOUTH WALES, NY

"I'm great, Brett," I said, touching a chest pocket on my warmup jacket that might suggest reaching for a phone, trying not to betray any apprehension that could bring the lad back. "You just get out of here, now," I said, maybe too tensely. I didn't want him to look.

How the kid interpreted that, I don't know. I resolved to apologize at some future point, if there was to be one. The chance ...