It took about thirty seconds before he heard the sound of footsteps clomping down the stairs. Jared walked into the living room. The kid was huge, and at sixteen hadn't stopped growing yet. He could've easily gotten a football scholarship, but he had no interest in sports. Or academics. Or anything besides video games and a series of slutty girlfriends. (Vivian, bless her oblivious heart, didn't know he was actually screwing them in his bedroom. About two years ago, Ken had sat Jared down for a very serious father/son talk. Good ol' Dad would pretend not to know what was going on, but if Jared was careless enough to get one of them pregnant, he was on his own.)

"What's up?" Jared asked.

"You tell me," said Ken, letting go of Vivian. "I hear you had an interesting day at school."

Jared shrugged.

"Your mom is right here. I mean, literally standing here in this very room. So pretending that you don't know what I'm talking about is disrespectful to her."

"It was a stupid test anyway."

"Give me more information than that."

"I cheated on my math test."

"Jesus Christ, Jared."

"I don't need to know any of this stuff. It's not helping me out with life."

"Did you get suspended?"

"Nah," said Jared. "Just got a zero. It wasn't even a test, it was a quiz."

"Oh, well, shit, if it was only a quiz it's no big deal, right? Surely cheating on a quiz is worth having a great big blotch on your permanent record. You don't need college, right? That's just a silly little place where people earn silly little degrees that help them get good jobs. But you're going to be one of those millionaire video game players. My God, a universe of career opportunities awaits you with that astounding hand-eye coordination of yours! Your mom and I have already picked out the mansion you're gonna buy us. It's got three swimming pools. Three! All of those colleges that reject your application because you're a cheater sure are going to feel dumb when they see what an amazing success you've made of yourself."

Jared looked at the floor. "Okay, I get it."

"No, I don't think you do. Because I'm going to destroy your career potential. You're going to march upstairs, and you're going to disconnect your PlayStation, and you're going to bring it down here, and I'm going to lock it up for the next two weeks, and you're not going to give me any attitude about it. And if this happens again, I'm going to get a hammer out of the garage and I'm going to smash your beloved game to pieces. I don't just mean cheating; I mean any trouble at school. You hear me?"

"Yeah."

"You think 'yeah' is gonna cut it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Go up there and get it. And don't you dare try to finish the level that you're on."

Jared left the living room.