As he watched the game on an amazing television in an immaculate house, Kevin thought that life seemed to like to play tricks on you. That just when you thought you had it figured out, something bad inevitably happened.

We’re all pieces of a broken puzzle. But we’re not the ones who can put it back together.

He noticed the family portrait on the wall, then sighed.

God was trying to tell him something.

Kevin just hoped that he’d get it. Not just get it, but do something with it.

Better and Worse

Carlos was standing by Thomas’s locker as he walked toward it after getting off the bus. It was a strange thing, having friends at school, Thomas thought. The bus ride didn’t smell as bad as it used to. He didn’t walk into this building feeling a wave of dread like some character in a zombie movie. He didn’t wonder what the day would be like. Instead, he found himself smiling at the big guy who was waiting for him.

Life was better when there were people who actually waited for you.

“Dude—tell me you got online last night,” Carlos said.

“I got online last night.”

Carlos looked shocked. “For real?”

“No, man. I told you, we don’t have Internet.”

“Then you gotta see this. Here.”

Carlos pulled out his phone and played with the display for a few moments. Then he showed Thomas.

For a minute Thomas didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to be reacting to. There was the infamous Facebook page again.

“Yeah, what?”

“See that?” Carlos pointed.

“See what?”

“You got over eight hundred people who like this page.”

“Really?”

“Totally. And you gotta read the comments. They’re great.”

“I’ll check it out in the media center later.”

As they were talking, a couple of girls walked up to them and gave Thomas some plastic bags.

“We went shopping at Target this weekend,” one of the girls said. “The tags are still on the clothes.”

“Hope this helps,” the other girl said.

“Bye, Thomas,” the first one called out before leaving.

Carlos just stood there, surprised, with a smile on his face.

“What are you going to do with all this stuff you’re getting?”

“Salvation Army. This weekend sometime.”

“Need any help carrying it all over?”

Thomas nodded, realizing he hadn’t thought that far ahead. He was still trying to find a job, still trying to find some ways to help Mom. The whole Facebook thing had started as a nice idea—kinda like a few other ideas he’d recently gotten—but that nice idea was starting to explode. In a good way.

“One final thing.”

“Yeah?” Thomas said, opening his locker and seeing more items filling it.

“Did you hear about Vic?”

What now?

“No,” Thomas said as he shut the locker door. He needed to get to his first class on time. Every day last week he’d been late. Late for a cause, but still late.