Miles stared.
“You said that before.”
“No.”
Darius shook his head.
“I said I suspected.”
He looked ashamed.
“I knew.”
Silence.
“I saw Grandpa give it to you.”
Miles's face tightened.
“When?”
“Christmas.”
“Then why?”
Darius laughed bitterly.
“Because I was angry.”
“At me?”
“Yes.”
Miles looked hurt despite everything.
Darius continued:
“Everybody kept looking at you like Dad was still alive in your face.”
“I hated it.”
“I knew that wasn't your fault.”
“I still hated it.”
Miles sat back.
“Okay.”
Darius looked surprised.
“Okay?”
“No.”
Miles shook his head.
“Not okay like fine.”
“Okay like I heard you.”
Darius nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
Miles looked toward Marcus's old toolbox.
“Thank you.”
No hug.
Not that day.
Three months later, Darius helped Miles move dorm furniture up three flights of stairs.
At the top, Miles handed him a beer.
Darius said:
“Is this forgiveness?”
Miles replied:
“No.”
“It's cheap beer.”
They laughed.
Close enough.
Walter lived long enough to see both grandsons become adults.
At eighty-three, his health began declining.
Miles came home more often.
So did Darius.
One afternoon Walter asked them to clean his garage.
They refused.
He threatened to leave all his tools to strangers.
They surrendered.
Inside one metal cabinet, Darius found a shoebox.
Not Nike.
Old cardboard.
Inside were receipts.
Marcus's birthday list.
The original handwritten pages.
Miles stopped.
“You kept this?”
Walter nodded.
“Apparently.”
Darius unfolded it.
MILES — 12
Shoes like the red/black ones he likes. Ask him size closer to birthday without being obvious. Dad will fail at this.
Darius laughed.
Next line:
DARIUS — 16
Carolina Elite if still playing. If not, use money for whatever he is working hard at. Do not force basketball just because I planned early.
Darius stared.
“He wrote an alternative.”
Walter smiled.
“Your father believed he controlled less than he pretended.”
There were later entries too.
MILES — 16
No clue. Hopefully he becomes interesting.
Miles looked offended.
Darius laughed.
DARIUS — 18
Watch? Ask Renee. Might hate watches.
Darius touched Marcus's old watch on his wrist.
MILES — 18
Letters.
Then:
BOTH — always tell them neither owes me a life matching the plans I made while dying.