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when it came to Sean — but years of growing up under the man's rule had left him with one approach. There would be no appeal to a familial connection or even pointing out that death hung over him. The only way through was straight.
    "I'm in trouble," Duncan said.
    Sean barked out a laugh. "Of course you are. No other reason you'd be here. How much do you need?"
    "Don't you want to know what's going on?"
    "Same thing that's always happened to you. You try to take the easy way out of things, it backfires, and you lose your money. I'm guessing whoever you screwed over is serious about getting his money back because you wouldn't be here otherwise. So, I'm curious, how much?"
    "Twenty thousand," Duncan said, feeling his body shrink into a twelve-year-old with every passing second.
    Sean laughed full-voiced this time. "I'll say this for you — when you screw up, you don't screw up small."
    "Anything that can get me close to it will buy me a few more days," Duncan said, but his father continued to laugh. "Please. They'll kill me."
    "Yeah, for that amount, I suspect they will."
    An awful silence settled between them. A silence poisoned by years of mutual distrust and disappointment.
    "So that's it?" Duncan said. "You'll just let me die?"
    Sean leaned against the back of his Cadillac. "I tried with you every way I could. Get you into football or baseball. Heck, I'd have been happy if you were into comic books or video games. But it was always Pappy. That's all you ever wanted to do. Learn his little card tricks."
    "What did you think would happen when you dumped me on his porch every chance you could get? Mom died and you didn't waste a minute trying to hook up with someone new."
    Sean folded his arms. They had been through this fight so many times the accusations no longer held the same venom. However, instead of coming back with another assault on Duncan's lifestyle, his father said, "I never understood Pappy and neither did your grandfather. He tried to raise me right but Pappy spent all that time driving us around the country, and well, you don't know Pappy nearly as well as you think you do."
    "I see. Now, Pappy's the villain."
    "No. But he's no hero, either." Sean scrunched his face at a memory and looked as if he might walk away. But he scratched his arms and said, "One time — I must've been about fourteen since your grandfather was still alive — Pappy came to the little apartment we were living in. He was all smiles and excitement. He'd hit it big, he said. Really worked his magic and got us lots of money. But we had to move fast, get out of town, or there'd be trouble. I say this like it's something new, but it happened all the time with him. But this time, my father shook his head. He said there was no way he would keep going on like this. He stood up for me. And you know what your tough ol' Pappy did? He stood down. He had to leave, of course, but he promised to return when things cooled down, and he did. About two years later he bought a place and got all crazy with that stupid door of his. Point is — I thought he had changed. Why else would he come back if he hadn't figured out what family was for? That's why I looked to him to help raise you. But I was wrong to do that. It was my big mistake. I admit it. And I lost you to him."
    Duncan kicked at the driveway. This was just his luck. All he wanted was some cash, but his father decides tonight's the night to offer an olive branch. Except the man hadn't even done that. He wallowed in his regret, sure, but nothing else. Heck, they still stood in the driveway.
    "I guess I should go," Duncan said with a flicker of hope that his father would hand him a little money before he left. Sean said nothing. He watched Duncan drive off and never even moved from the garage.
    Duncan drove for five miles before he pulled to the side of the road. He stared down the long road and smacked the steering wheel. Breathing like a bull facing a matador, readying to strike, he