Epic Sins (Epic Fail #1)(7)

“In my closet,” I say and jump up, excited. I find it on the shelf and bring it back to her. I almost knock over the tower, but she grabs it before it can fall over. She moves it against my bookcase and it looks like it will be okay.

“I’ve always wanted to do this one. They didn’t have it when I was your age. Legos back then were a bit simpler.”

“I guess I’m lucky then, huh?” I say and shrug my shoulders. I wonder what it was like back when my mom was a little girl. I can’t imagine her playing Legos. I only picture dolls and flowers. “Didn’t you have tea parties and stuff back then?”

She says softly, “I was a bit of a tomboy. I played sports with my brothers and didn’t have too much time for dolls.” She has four brothers who are my uncles. They’re all cool, but I barely see them because they live in North Carolina. I have like ten cousins too that I hardly ever see.

“Can I be Darth Vader?” I ask her when we dump the contents of the box onto my rug.

“You can be anything you want, Garrett.” She rubs the back of my head and pulls me against her for a hug. “And I mean that for the rest of your life. You know I’ll support you in anything you want to do,” she says.

“I want to be a garbage man. It’s so cool that they get to drive a big truck!” I exclaim, and Mom laughs.

“That sounds like it would be a lot of fun.” She smiles and begins to separate the bags of Legos. She lines them up in number order.

“Why don’t we try to put together the first two bags tonight, and we’ll work on the rest of it throughout the week.”

I nod. “Yeah, this could take a while and it’s already dark outside.”

She rips open the first bag and dumps out the pieces. I immediately find the figures and assemble Darth Vader, Princess Leia, and Han Solo. There are a few Storm Troopers too.

Mom smiles as she begins to put together the pieces that will make up the Millennium Falcon. I play-fight with the figures. Darth Vader tries to beat up Han Solo, but Princess Leia kicks his butt.

I really enjoy these times with my mom. I just wish my dad could be here too.

Hopefully once those people get their money, he can come home, just like he said.





Sam

Past

Villanova, Pennsylvania

Age 7



“DADDY, LOOK!” I SCREAM as I’m about to jump into the deep end of the pool. He waves and his smile is huge. I know I’m going to make him so proud by finally being brave.

My feet hit the cool water first and I feel it rush through my toes and up my legs. I squeeze my nose closed as tight as I can, suck in lots of air and hold my breath. My heart is pounding as the rest of my body sinks below the surface. I kick my legs as fast as I can, trying to reach the sunlight through the water. The muffled sound of clapping hands becomes louder as my head pops out of the water and I take huge gulps of air.

“Great pencil dive, Sam!” Daddy yells from the porch. He’s surrounded by his friends from work. We’re having a party to celebrate his secretary’s retirement, and everyone loves her so much, they wanted to come and share this special day with her. Lucy is super sweet and she says she’s going to travel the world with her husband. She’s old, like fifty or sixty. I don’t know why she waited so long to follow her dream of seeing things like the Eiffel Tower and the Tower of London. Lots of towers. Kind of seems boring.

Her granddaughter, Cassie, is my age and she’s here too. She’s a really good swimmer and taught me how to jump into the deep end. Today’s the first day that I’m not wearing my swimmies.

“Woo-hoo!” Cassie says from the diving board. “It’s my turn now!”

My heart is beating fast as I try to paddle to the shallow end. My arms feel really heavy and it’s hard to keep my head above the water. My toes scrape along the bottom of the pool that is the slope leading to shallower water. I’m almost there.

“Sam, please stay in the shallow end when you don’t have your swimmies on,” my mother calls from the stairs. As soon as my feet are firmly planted on the flat surface of the shallow end, I turn and smile. “I’m okay, Mommy. See!” I throw my hands up in the air, splashing water around me. She smiles as she shakes her head and turns to pass a tray of food to one of Daddy’s friends from work.

“Cannonball!” Cassie yells from the diving board, pulling her knees to her chest. She lands in the water and doesn’t even have to hold her nose. Her eyes are open huge and she’s laughing as her face disappears beneath the waves that she just made. She doesn’t come up right away and I’m suddenly worried. Before I can say another word, I feel a cool hand wrap around my ankle and I’m underwater again, flailing and laughing.

We both surface while I cough out the water I just swallowed. “Hey! No fair. And no playing rough or your grandma will be down here before you know it,” I say to her as she pulls herself onto a large raft. It’s Mommy’s raft and is usually off limits to kids, but she’s busy with Daddy’s friends and probably won’t notice. Cassie paddles over toward me and I climb on next to her.

Our shoulders are touching on the raft. It’s really hot.

“I like your pool,” she says, covering her eyes with her arm.

“Thanks,” I say, doing the same with my own arm.