We lie to ourselves when necessary Some of us are more convincing than others My family has always been particularly good at it You see we deliver our lies in person One moment you’re minding your own business and the next you’re staring into your own earnest eyes persuading yourself to do this or that It’s hard to remain objective when you are face to face with your own reflection And if you can’t trust the one person who should have your own best interests at heart who can you trust There I go jumping ahead again or was it backwards backwards No it was most certainly ahead The end is always the best place to start I am dying This old body is finally breaking down Oh don’t waste your precious time being
sad on my account I’ve been given more than my fair share of days in this world And I trust this old crone I’ve become I may not like her but I trust her All my mistakes are laid out in front of me plainly seen Old age has given me that bitter gift among several others I’ve made things right when I could even moved a mountain or two when necessary But this story isn’t about me not really It’s about Finn If I succeed he will have his own future his own story to tell Hopefully he will make things right where I couldn’t because if he doesn’t well that changes everything and nothing
CHAPTER 1 Finnegan Firth slid out of his bedroom window and padded on bare feet across the cold slate patio He needed to check the mailbox quickly before Dad’s morning alarm went off Dorset’s Lower Hollow Road was the first stop on Mr Booth’s mail delivery route so the earlier the better He approached the end of the long curved driveway and stared down his tin nemesis Finn pulled the small door from its latch and was met with a familiar screech of metal separating from metal Nothing The box was the same black hole it had been for the past three weeks He was not surprised This disheartening routine had become his new normal He stood there on the desolate road listening to the whisper of the first leaves falling and wondering 2
if he’d be doing this forever He couldn’t stop himself himself from hoping even when all the available data proved he should If someone had told him that Mom would leave right before his thirteenth birthday he would’ve said it was highly improbable She and Dad had been arguing more than usual but there’d been no hint that things were that bad She’d left without leaving a note She hadn’t texted called or even emailed since Finn had tried calling her cell more than once and it always went straight to voicemail He didn’t have the heart to leave any messages lately Dad was sticking to the same refrain she would be back she just needed time But as the weeks dragged on Dad had become more distant than ever Professor Firth was not an easy man to read but Finn thought he detected a note of despair creeping into his father’s measured responses Dad hadn’t even mentioned his birthday to him yet Watch him forget Finn thought darkly It wasn’t like his birthday was ever a true celebration celebration In fact he secretly dreaded the whole month of October It made everyone silent and heavy with gravity A cloud of smoke-colored grief hung over every birthday cake he could remember This year 3
