them at the abandoned quarry outside town after classes,” he continued. “They wouldn’t say why. They just kept calling me a ‘chicken’ whenever I asked.”
“I wanted them to like me.”
“But that’s one place that all the kids have been warned to stay away from?” I interjected.
“Yeah. And I was terrified. I didn’t want to go alone.”
Barry hesitated.
“That’s when I saw him, your son. He kept to himself a lot at school. Kids gave him a hard time sometimes. I figured he wouldn’t say no if I asked him to come with me.”
The room suddenly felt smaller.
“That’s when I saw him, your son.”
Karen covered her face.
“He thought I’d become his friend,” Barry whispered. “When I told him we had the same name, he smiled as if it meant something special.”
I felt my throat tighten.
Barry’s voice began to shake. “After school,
