The X was marked on a point of the Buckeye along the Brazos River. Next to it was written ’12:00 P.M.’ I knew where to be and when to be there. I ...ust didn’t know how long it would take me to get there. I had never been on these remote trails before, so I wasn’t sure of the time it would take to navigate to the X, which was located near the far back end of the trail system. My timing wasn’t very far off, but I was about seven minutes late by the time I got to the point of the trail with the X.. We laughed and joked for hours every day and then one night something about him changed to me, he was no longer the older manI flirted with but he was the man I found myself thinking and smiling about when not with. We always stayed in the yard, him in his truck and I in my car parked side by side talking and joking until it was time for me to leave for home. That night as I left his front yard, I jokingly told him that he should call me sometime and to my amazement he replied “I don’t have. “Besides, there’s no place for you to stay. I filed the insurance claim, and my lawyer sued them for five million, but he won’t pay and I can’t afford the house I wanted to rebuild, but I’m going to get another A-frame and I’ll put it all back just like it was, Uncle Patrick, I swear I will.”“Where you callin’ from?” asked the old man.Bobby relaxed. Here, at least, was a question he could answer.“A woman named Mindy Franks took me in. Her daughter cut the tree off of me when it fell on me. Her. After two years of junior college, Jack was getting the hang of life at a big university. But the work was a lot more than he'd experienced at junior college, and that hadn't left much time for a social life. Still, he was looking forward to kicking back with a cold beer and a hot doobie with his sister, who was a year ahead of him at school.After locking his bike to the fence, Jack decided to peek in the big window of the large den just a second before going into the house. He wanted to be.