to her?”
“I’d hoped so, but I’d recently decided it wasn’t to be. Rose was involved in a number of committees and charities: Deliverance from Hunger, Keepers of the Children, Redemption for Orphans, but I’d come to realize that she was like so many of the others. It was all surface, a way to look good and feel good without actually doing good. When I first met her, I had hoped that by making a connection, together we could redirect resources from the wealthy to those who most need help.”
“Are you Robin Hood or something?”
“Not exactly. My goal is to help others become more like Robin Hood. I try to cause a domino effect, people helping people by providing whatever they can, whether it’s money or skills. Unfortunately, that wasn’t Rose’s goal, and now she’s dead.”
“You didn’t cause her death,” I assured him. “She has her own choices to blame for that.”
Richard finally looked me in the eye. “Now she has no choices.” He held my gaze. I was the first to look away.
-Guy-
A History
Keira looked away first. Was it a sign of remorse? I studied her. What was she thinking?
“What do you expect from me?” Keira finally blurted out. “Unless someone steps in, bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. I’ve seen it over and over again. I try to change things, and I feel bad when people get caught in the crossfire, but I can’t spend time worrying about it. It just happens sometimes. You can’t let yourself get dragged down by that. Otherwise, you won’t be any good to anyone.”
Is this my chance? Can I convince her? “You have a strength, Keira, a strength I don’t usually see in people. It’s a strength of spirit. No wonder Scott trusts you.”
“Scott trusts me? I was beginning to wonder,” she replied sarcastically. “If he trusts me, why didn’t he ever tell me about you?”
I decided not to answer her question, not yet. “Your anger adds to your strength, but it’s misdirected. You can continue to take out ‘the bad people,’ or you can use your strengths to serve ‘the good people.’ If you choose the second, you can live, truly live, and stop simply surviving.”
Could I help her? I wanted to, I really did. Scott had helped me to see clearly. I hoped I could finally return the favor.
“You asked how I knew Scott.”
She nodded.
“We met when I transferred to your high school. We’d both been going through a rough time. My father had just uprooted me. That’s how it had felt anyway. I was being relocated against my will. Scott was being relocated against his will too, but it wasn’t the same. He’d been told he would have to leave in just a few months. He was preparing to move on.”
“I remember. I was still at the junior high, but I remember how quiet and withdrawn Scott was at home. I was afraid he would leave, and we’d never see him again, or worse that we’d already lost him.”
“I think most teenagers are selfish and self-centered. I was. Everything I wanted had always been provided, and until our move to Tkaron, I’d always gotten my way.”
“You think Scott was being selfish?”
I shook my head. “Scott wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met before. And he was never selfish. From what he told me, it sounded like he didn’t expect anything to go his way. He worried that he was at the end of his life, not the beginning. Even so, even as everything he knew was ending, he put you first, you and your sister.”
That was all I was willing to share with Keira for now. Would it be enough? Scott had changed my life. Would this conversation be enough to change hers? While she sat deep in thought, I remembered.
Scott and I had eaten lunch together every day for the rest of the school year. Our lunchtime conversations had allowed me to see the world from a different perspective.
That summer, Scott was hired to do yard work at a few wealthy estates. He was trying to earn as much money as he could to leave behind for his sisters. I began to work alongside him, but I refused payment, making sure Scott took 100% of the earnings. I didn’t need the money – he did. I only wanted to experience what life was like for the majority of citizens who had to work hard to survive.
Later that summer, my father took me on