He would ride his bike over to my small house with a huge grin on his chubby face and beg me to join his family for dinner — followed by a waffle co...ne at the local ice cream parlor. At first I felt like an outsider, sitting down in the warm familiar kitchen at John's and saying grace with his family. After I got over the nervousness of being around such a large group of people, it felt pretty darn good to be a part of something so special. They always made me feel welcome and when I asked John. The cycle I implemented a few years back came back to me instantly. Steadily I was building up my strength.With Father Petrou, I became very close. Every evening we would cook something to eat together. When we finish our meal, we would enjoy a game of chess. A strategy board game he is trying to teach me. I think he enjoys calling out his favourite word in the game. “Checkmate.”We rolled into November. The weather was changing. Most of the leaves from the trees had fallen by then. In the. So much hate for the woman that I raised me or at least for the woman who tried to raise me. Once I stormed into the room, I barely noticed Alexander propped up on his bed, reading like always before I went into the bathroom and slammed the door as hard as I could. I really just didn’t care about anything anymore. I stripped myself of my clothes, turned the shower on and dove in without waiting for the heat to kick in. Letting the water run over me, I tried taking deep breaths to calm down.. Barnaby stared at it dumbly, earning a sharp clip across the ears. "Do I have to explain everything you dumbfuck" he burst out, puffing big black streaks of smoke as he spoke. "I want you to go back and get rid of that cesspit, it's disgusting, and you live with me now."Carefully Barnaby put down his things, taking the matchbox and wandering back to the house. He loved the Smith house, even if it was rotting to pieces, it was a tangible connection to Jack, his only friend. With tears.