Calming the Sea, Drifting Away

Four

I like to compare my days to colors. Not so good days are gray. Bad days are black. Good days are white. The day after I left home was as dark as color could be. It was the worst day of my life.

At about three in the morning, we stopped to get gas. I had a shoebox full of money, a lot of money. At lease five thousand dollars, saved from all of my birthdays, Christmas gifts, and allowances. So, I went to get gas. I got my shoebox out of the trunk, set it on top of the car, got some money, and forgot to put it back. I didn't realize until we were hours away, trying to get breakfast.

All of my money: gone forever. Left for somebody to find and take, impossible for me to ever get it back.

We went to McDonalds for breakfast. Liam had some money, but it wouldn't last long, so we didn't buy much. We left, ate our breakfast on the road, and then we kept going.

I stopped the car.

"Liam," I said, "maybe we shouldn't do this."

"Why?"

"It's just not going as well as I thought it would go. I already lost thousands of dollars. I don't want worse things to happen."

"It'll be okay. Let's go just a little bit farther."

And we did. We went a little bit farther.