KINGDOM 2


‘When you brought this to me, you mentioned an old box camera. I would really like that. I’m something of an enthusiast.’


Jason’s stomach lurchings increased in speed and intensity. All the old feelings of guilt resurfaced. He could pretend that selling the pictures meant nothing, but theft was theft, no matter how you looked at it.


‘How much?’ Kronski shrugged. ‘A decent price this time. Five hundred if it’s in good repair.’


Jason calculated. With fi ve hundred, plus the seven fi fty he had saved, he could be ready to go on his birthday.


Kronski returned to his lead soldier.


‘Think before you decide, young man. Decisions like this one tend to affect your entire future. It’s not too late to go home to your family and be boring and happy.’ Tobago, thought Jason. Tobago. That’s what I have always wanted. ‘I’m sure,’ he said. ‘I’ll be back later. Count on it.’ Kronski nodded thoughtfully. ‘I think you might.’


Jason took the long way home. The house was in darkness except for an outside light that his mother always left on to guide him back. For some reason, the light made him feel even guiltier than the theft he was planning to commit.


He let himself in, creeping downstairs to the basement where Grandpa Gee kept his old junk. He stepped around the stacks of National Geographic and over boxes of toy cars from the last century. Grandpa Gee had almost as much junk as old Doc Kronski.


Finally Jason reached the old chest at the rear of the room and whipped back the tablecloth laid over it. The cloth snapped through the air and Jason froze, waiting for a reaction from above. None came. The house was as silent as space.


Jason opened the chest, searching the interior with a penlight. The camera was there, lying on the velvet lining of a wooden presentation box. And in the space left by the stolen spyglass was an envelope. The envelope was addressed to him.


Jason balanced the chest’s lid on his forehead, reaching inside for the envelope. There was a letter inside. The handwriting was Grandpa Gee’s. Jason recognized it from the dozens of letters he had received from faraway places.


Dear Jason, it read. I am sorry for all the things that have built a wall between us. I am sorry that I am not your real grandfather, but I should not have tried to be. This lesson has cost me your affection and respect.


I am sorry that there is no place for me in your world, because if there was, my life would be just about perfect.


I am sorry that your mother loves you so much, because she will be heartbroken when you leave for Tobago, as we all know you will. Frank and Maggie will be devastated too. Like it or not, you are Maggie’s hero. When you go, she will wonder what she did to drive you away.


Finally, I am sorry that you feel you have to steal from me. Do you need money for your Tobago fund? Is that it, Jason, my dearest boy? All you have to do is ask.


If stolen money takes you to a place, you will never be truly happy there. In time, you will be driven from the island by guilt. I know this is true, because I made a similar mistake once, and because you are a good person on the verge of a bad decision.


Think about what you are doing, Jason. We give you love, food, and shelter, and you throw them all back at us. And for what? For a father who deserted you. Can’t you fi nd your father without discarding your family?


380


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