Chapter 33

What he and Henry had done was really wrong.

His mother wasa good person; so was his dad. Good people went to their church. They did good things. They helped the poor, the sick, the needy. They liked him. They asked about him when he wasn’t there, stopping his parents in the parking lot: how is Jamey, how is he doing down in Richmond, what’s he doing these days?Jamey wondered if the people at church asked about him now at all and if they did, what his parents said in reply.

Jamey knew that his mother loved him, but realized he had never been sure about his dad. Sometimes he thought his dad loved the idea of having a first born son more than he actually loved Jamey himself. All this—he glanced back at the rumpled bed and down at the floor—would cause his mother real pain. Jamey knew, although she had never said so, that he was her favorite, her golden boy. He knewshe wanted the best for him, college, maybe even seminary, but definitely not this