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            Back at the family home, they found Danielle on the sofa in the living room, smoking a Newport and watching television.  A box of Kleenex sat on the coffee table, wads of tissue scattered around.

            At their arrival, she mashed out her cigarette and stood.  “What happened?  You end it?”

            “Lisa will tell you everything,” Anthony said.  He looked to the staircase.  “Reuben upstairs?”

            “In his room.”

            “Did you tell him, Danny?”

            “I said I would.”  Sighing, she eased onto the sofa again, and lit another cigarette.

            Anthony went upstairs and knocked on Reuben’s door.  Unlike every other time that Anthony had visited his nephew, no music pounded from inside.

            “It’s open,” Reuben said.

            Reuben lay on his back on the bed, gazing at the shadowed ceiling, hands crossed behind his head.  The only light in the room issued from the computer monitor.  The web browser displayed the New Kingdom Church Web site; Bishop Prince’s bio filled the screen.

            Anthony felt so sorry for the kid that he didn’t know what to say.  He pulled the desk chair over near the bed, and sat.

            For a couple of minutes, neither of them spoke. 

            “Your mother told you about your father,” Anthony finally said.

            Reuben didn’t look at him.  “He ain’t my father, man.  He’s just some dude who got her pregnant.”

            Count on a youth to get straight to the point, no chaser.

            “How do you feel about it?” Anthony asked.

            “The guy’s a twisted motherfucker.  Getting with girls younger than me?  That’s sick, man.”

            “Your mom loves you, Reuben, in spite of what happened.  I love you, too.  I love you like a son.”

            Reuben shifted to face him.  He looked so much like his father that it was disconcerting, their eyes the same shade of gray.  But the souls reflected within those eyes were vastly different—Reuben was a kid, and he had a good heart. 

            “It’s kinda weird that you called that dude my father,” Reuben said.  “ ‘Cause you know, I’ve always sorta looked at you like you were my father, know what I mean?”

            “You have?”

            “Yeah, man,” he said, as if the truth were obvious.  “Who else I got?  You’ve always been there for me and Mom.”

            “Thanks, Reuben.  I needed to hear that.”  Anthony clapped his nephew’s shoulder. 

            “Yo, you wanna sleep here?”  Reuben sat up, examining Anthony’s face.  “You look like you need to crash, for real.”

            “In a while.  I’ve still got some work to do.  Did you finish that press release blaster?”

            “Man, I was putting the finishing touches on it when that crazy dude jacked me this morning.  But we could use it now, for sure.  You got something you need to send out?”

            Anthony held up the flash drive.

            “There’re some files on here that I’m going to upload to my author web site,” he said.  “I drafted a press release on my way here.  I want to direct the media to a page on my site where they can find all the files.”

            “Aw, that’s easy.”  Reuben grabbed another chair from the corner of the room and dragged it in front of the computer.  “Let’s do this.”