"Is your mom a whore? Is she expensive? Can we afford her?"

It had never happened before, but standing there in the heat and dirt with tiny tufts of grass here and

there, he snapped. All his good cheer and optimism shattered. He hardly knew how it happened, but suddenly he lunged at Jimmy. Years of being a kid with no real father, since Harlan had never liked him much, welled up until he felt tears streaming down his cheeks with every strike of his fist. He punched and hit, but after a second of surprise, Jimmy quickly moved out of the way, and the boys only laughed harder when Travis swung one last time, missed, and landed in a patch of dry desert sand face first.

They laughed for a while longer, then left him there. He wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole. He stayed that way for what seemed like forever. Then suddenly Coach's big meaty hand grasped him by the shoulder.

"Here, Sanders, don't let 'em get to you," the man said, helping him up. "And don't ever let 'em see you cry."

The man dusted him off, then shoved a club in his hands. "You're up again. And this time put all that anger into your swing."

The van dropped Travis off at the corner of Meadowlark and Vista del Monte. He'd had to sit right by the bus driver in order to survive the short trip from the golf school. When he hopped down, the rental

clubs he'd been assigned banging against his legs, he could hear the other kids' taunts as they drove away.

Travis didn't move. He watched the van until it disappeared down the street, then he turned and walked

across to Kate's house.

Kate was really nice. Heck, she worried about him way more than his mom did. But he wouldn't think about that. Kate wasn't his mom, and soon he'd be leaving for Las Vegas. He wondered if Jesse would

miss him, then he scoffed. His dad would probably jump up and down for joy.

He was surprised when he walked down the drive and saw Jesse by the pool. He had some tools and he was fixing one of the lounge chairs. Seemed like Jesse was always fixing something around here, always had some tool. Though Travis had seen that at night Jesse read all kinds of books about golf. Strategy

books, books on how to play. He even watched videos of golf game after golf game on Kate's machine.

It was like the guy was looking for something.

Given the totally crummy day he'd had, Travis wasn't in the mood to talk. He tried to slip by without

being noticed. But Jesse must have heard him, because he turned around.

"Hey," Jesse called out, standing up with a hammer in his hand.

Travis gave a quick wave, but he didn't stop.

Inside the house, he found something to eat. He felt a spark of pleasure at the sight of a plate lined with

real sugar cookies, not hard ones out of a box, with creamy icing on top. He managed to pour a glass of milk and head for the table with the entire plate.

He couldn't have been more surprised when a few minutes later Jesse actually came into the house.

"So," his dad said, all cheery. "You found the cookies. I made them."

"You?"

"Yeah. I used to love those things."

Amazingly, his dad looked like he really cared what I Travis thought about the cookies. "They're good."

Jesse beamed. "How was golf camp?"

Not nearly as good. But Travis wasn't about to admit that maybe he wasn't cut out for golf after all. He forced a smile and said, "Great! It was really fun!"

Jesse looked at him kind of funny. "You want to tell me about it?" he asked.

"Nothing much to tell. We learned about the clubs, hit some balls. Tomorrow we're going to learn to putt."

Great. Tomorrow he'd have to go back.

"Who's teaching?"

"Coach Peters."

"Gary? You're kidding me. He's a great guy and all, but he's a baseball coach."

That would explain his peculiar form of hitting the ball. Travis answered with a shrug.

They both turned at the sound of tires on gravel. Seconds later, Kate came into the house with a gigantic

smile on her face.

"Hi, T. How was camp?"

T. She had started calling him T. A fun nickname that showed he was part of the crowd. He felt stupid tears burn in his eyes.

"Great," both he and Jesse said at the same time.

She glanced between them, then said, "This is wonderful news. What have you learned so far?"

Travis pushed up. "Just stuff. But I'm kind of sweaty, so can I go for a swim?"

"Well, sure."

Travis headed out before they could ask him any more about golf. Nope, he'd have to spend some time coming up with some answers about that. And boy was he glad he was heading out because just as he was leaving the kitchen to go to his room to change, Derek came to the back door.

He looked really mad, but the minute he saw Travis he kind of worked up a smile. "Hi, Travis." "Hi." He flipped up a wave, then bolted for his room.

Jesse studied his brother through the screen door. Derek came into the kitchen without being asked.

"Kate," Derek acknowledged with a nod. "Can I speak to my brother for a moment?"

"Oh, sure." She gathered her purse, then followed Travis.

Jesse could tell by the look on Derek's face that he wasn't happy.

"What's up?" Jesse asked, leaning back against the counter, crossing his ankles.

"I had a visit from Daniel Lehman today."

"I take it I'm supposed to know who Daniel Lehman is."

Derek's jaw ticked, but he kept his voice level. "He is a neighbor, a colleague at the bank, and the father

of Lena."

Lena. That sounded familiar. Then Jesse remembered the little girl in Travis's room. Great.

"And?"

"He was not happy about the fact that his daughter came over to play with Travis without an adult in

attendance."

"It won't happen again. We've already talked about it. Besides, all they were doing was looking at golf magazines."

"Just the sort of response I would expect from you. It doesn't matter what they were doing-"

"It doesn't?" Anger surged up despite the fact that he was trying to keep it at bay.

"What matters is providing guidelines for a child and setting good examples. You haven't the first clue

how to do either."

Jesse pushed away from the counter. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Don't play naive with me. We both know you don't have a clue what guidelines are or boundaries for

proper behavior. Travis is a kid, and he needs boundaries whether you had them or not."

That's all it took. One minute they were standing there, the next minute years of frustration spilled over and Jesse pinned his older brother to the wall. "You don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

But Derek was frustrated too. "Don't I? When did you start smoking? Eleven? And drinking? Twelve?"

He pushed Jesse away, gaining release only because Jesse felt like he'd been punched in the gut. His

breath grew labored.

"How about the first time you had sex?" Derek pursued relentlessly. "Thirteen?"

"I don't have to listen to this."

"Or how about the time that you should have done the decent thing and stayed away from an innocent

young woman who loved you so much that she'd let you take advantage of her?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"