I have one final hope, If I get double sixes, maybe he will change his mind, come back to me. As if to cast a magic spell, I blow on the dice just as Dex did...Just as it happened with our first roll, one die lands before its mate. On a six! I hold my breath. For a brief second, I see a mess of dots, and think I have boxcars again. I kneel, staring at the second die. It is onle a five. I have rolled an eleven, It is as if someone is mocking me, saying, Close, but no dice.

You don't have to talk to someone to think about them and check up on them now and again.

I'm glad you were both here," I finally manage, thinking how strange it is to be standing with the two people who made you, something most kids take for granted every day of their lives.

That's how life is. Sometimes there are happy endings, sometimes there aren't, and more often there are shades of gray.

Happiness is the best revenge, you know? Just be happy. It's a choice.

I will find the good in this loss. I will make something happen that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

He who fails to plan, plans to fail.