The next morning
they unplugged the respirator. On the way home he picked up his cell and played
Cory's last message--"Got us a tee time Sunday over at Spencer," Cory
says. "Let's leave at 7:30. Gonna kick your butt."
God, that Sunday
morning came down hard on the big truck driver. He just sat in his chair, numb,
like somebody'd cut off his arms. And Maud walked in, tears pooling in her
eyes, holding out the car keys. "You better go," she whispered.
"He'd want you to."
And he did. He
pulled his two-ton heart out of that chair and mummy-walked through 18 holes,
because buddies don't let each other down. And all the way he ached about all
the things he never said or did for his son.
And later on he
took out his pen and paper and fixed one of them.
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