Rufus doesn’t know what his mom has been going through at the hospital, only that she came home exhausted and wanted to try to help out at the shop, and everyone begged her to get some rest instead.

“You good, Mom?” Rufus asks.

“It’s been a long day.” She looks around at the park, where other kids are playing and laughing, and it seems like the kind of thing she needed. “I’m on call for a surgery tonight. It’s for a Decker who wants to pass his heart on to another boy he’s only just met. They’re both so young and . . .”

His dad seems stuck on a thought. “Wait. Did one have a Yankees cap?”

“I didn’t see a cap at all.”

He snaps his fingers at himself. “Valentino?”

Her back straightens. “How do you know that?”

“We met a Decker at the shop this morning. They bought a camera off us.”

“He was a Decker?!” Rufus asks. He can’t believe he met a real-life Decker and he’s only just now finding out about it.

His mom sighs. “Though the news is now reporting that Death-Cast has made some mistakes today. Just because they got some predictions right doesn’t mean they still can’t be wrong. This could complicate things on our end for the surgery, but only time will tell. I just hope those boys are having the time of their lives.”

Rufus is itching to ride his bike some more because all this death talk is making him uncomfortable. But he sees that his dad has fallen into some kind of trance. “What’s up, Pops?”

“Things weren’t—aren’t—great with Valentino and his parents. I wonder what his heart is telling him to do.” He looks at his family with a steel, teary gaze. “None of us are perfect, but let’s never let things between us get so bad that we could know we’re dying and still not want anything to do with each other. Goodbyes are the most possible impossible because you never want to say them, but you’d be stupid not to when given the chance.”

Rufus lets his father’s words sink in.

He would never want to fight with his family so much that he wouldn’t try to see them one last time before he dies. He knows the day will come where he’s a grown man and his parents are old that he will have to say goodbye. And it will probably feel impossible, but Rufus’s father is right, it will actually be possible. Just really difficult. But that’s a problem for a long, long, long time from now.

Until then, Rufus is going to be a kid.

He’s going to have fun with his bike.

He’s going to be a good son and brother and friend.

He’s going to live.

Mateo Torrez Jr.

3:14 p.m.