I didn’t say anything for a long time.
Then I got up from my chair. Slowly. My knees cracked.
I walked across the living room. I sat down on the couch next to Dr. Graham Prentiss, PhD, headmaster of Hampton Roads Preparatory Academy.
I put my hand on his shoulder.
He looked at my hand.
He started to cry.
Part Seventeen: The New Tradition
The academy changed the policy two weeks later.
The board voted unanimously. Dr. Prentiss proposed it himself.
There’s no Father-Son Breakfast anymore.
There’s a breakfast called The Ones Who Show Up.
Every boy brings whoever shows up for him. Fathers. Grandfathers. Mothers. Uncles. Aunts. Older
brothers. Coaches. Neighbors. Foster parents. Scout leaders.
Anybody who climbs up on the tractor.
The library is closed during the breakfast. Dr. Prentiss locks it himself.
The first year, three hundred and forty people came. They had to move it to the cafeteria because
