with his parents and his dog. He wanted to bring a friend. My husband and I had debated the matter but selfishly decided against it; had Zack brought a friend, they would have spent the time tethered to either half of the iPod earbuds, speak- ing in cryptic code about Linkin Park, Katy Perry and “Family Guy,” barely giving us the time of day. ¶ Now I watch him stare moodily into the fire he has lovingly crafted. He is perched on a log, hunched forward with his skinny arms wrapped around his skinny legs — a bony pterodactyl poised for flight. Reaching for a stick,


S


She hadn’t been to her father’s grave since she was 13 — her son’s age — but questions about his Air Force accident were drawing her back


Mission The by Karen Houppert • pHoto illustrations by alicia buelow


he pokes a pine cone closer to some glowing embers and waits. He is rewarded moments later with a burst of flames that light up his face — and his grin of plea- sure. ¶ Zack is a burgeoning pyromaniac. To fulfill his apprenticeship requirement for seventh grade this year, he took a job at a glass-blowing studio. He’s still trying to wrap his head around the idea that anyone would call this — powering the blow- torch for a man twirling molten glass — a job. He picks up every abandoned lighter he finds on Baltimore’s litter-strewn streets and flicks it relentlessly for a spark. On Facebook, my husband discovers, our son has posted a photo of himself and a friend igniting a squirt of bug spray. In his bedroom. Sev- eral action figures — only bad guys thus far — have met their deaths in our back yard, coated with Axe deodorant and burned beyond recognition in a Bustelo coffee can.


ometimes the rending of parent and child is abrupt, sometimes gradual. ¶ Always, it is painful. ¶ It happens at age 13, in my experience. It was the last year I spent with my father. It is the age my son is now. ¶ My son does not want to be here, camping by a lake in a state park near Selma, Ala.,


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