Read Online Something Noble by William Kowalski - Free Book Online

can do. They pronounce him dead a little before four am.
    Dre is asleep down the hall. I’ll tell him in the morning. No need to wake him now.
    Suddenly I don’t know what to do with myself. So I go into the bathroom and lock the door. And I cry for LeVon, and all the LeVons of the world. The ones who never had a chance to begin with.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    I t’s over a year later. The date is September 1. It ’s morning. Dre is getting ready for school. After a long delay, he’s about to start his senior year, and he’s never been more excited.
    â€œMom! Have you seen my tie?” he asks for the third time.
    â€œIt’s on your bed,” I tell him, also for the third time.
    â€œOh yeah, right.”
    â€œHow come I can’t wear a tie?” pouts Marco.
    â€œBecause they don’t wear ties in first grade,” says Dre. “You’d probably get it caught on something and hang yourself.”
    â€œDre! That’s terrible,” I say.
    â€œSorry, Mama. But you know it’s true.” Dre finds his tie and puts it on. I help him straighten it. Just as I finish, a car pulls up.
    â€œMy dad’s here!” Marco says. He’s all excited.
    Ernest gets out of the driver’s side. Yvonne, his new wife, gets out of the passenger side. She’s slow and awkward. Being pregnant will do that to you.
    â€œHey, buddy!” Ernest says to Marco. “You almost ready to go?”
    â€œAre we gonna take a picture first?” Marco says.
    â€œThat’s why I’m all dressed up,” says Ernest. “I wouldn’t miss your first day of big-kid school for anything.”
    â€œHi, Linda, how are you?” says Yvonne.
    â€œI’m fine, Yvonne. You feeling all right?”
    â€œPretty good. The morning sickness has passed.”
    â€œGlad to hear it.” I smile. I like Yvonne. After I broke it to Ernest that it would never work for us to get back together, he realized he had to move on. And move on he did. Yvonne was someone he met through work. She’s good for him, I can tell. I don’t worry that Ernest is going to screw this one up, either. He’s learned a lot from his past mistakes. Too bad he didn’t figure that out sooner. But none of us is perfect. And I’ve learned it’s important to forgive people. It’s the greatest gift you can give yourself.
    â€œLooking good, Dre,” says Ernest. “Excited to start your last year of high school?”
    â€œExcited is not the word,” says Dre. “I’ve been waiting for this a long time.”
    It hasn’t been an easy year. There were a couple of health setbacks for Dre. While they were not life-threatening, he did have to miss a whole year of school after his transplant. He had the option to get home-schooled, and that’s what we did. But there were some things he couldn’t do at home if he wanted to pursue his new goal of becoming a doctor. Not just any doctor—a kidney specialist. My kitchen doesn’t make a very good chemistry lab. Besides, he also wanted the experience of going to real classes, of being a normal kid again. He’s going to be a year older than everybody else, but that’s not a bad thing. A little maturity will serve him well.
    We all go inside the house. Marco gets bossy, lining us all up in front of the couch for the picture. Yvonne holds his camera. She has to back up to fit us all in. My house is so small she’s practically in the front yard. But finally she’s ready.
    â€œWait!” says Dre. “I almost forgot.”
    He runs to the door and takes down a picture that hangs there. Then he gets back in the shot and holds the picture up.
    It’s a shot of LeVon. Marco took it the day he came here. LeVon is looking up at the camera. He doesn’t look anything like a gangster. He looks like a big kid sitting on the floor, video game controls in his hand, hat on sideways. He’s even