“Maybe if I do this paper, it will jog your memory on some cool things,” Lucas said.

“These knees of mine made me give up jogging a long time ago,” Gramps said.

“Mom says that I never give up,” Lucas said.

“Make an exception for me,” Gramps said. “It’s too late for me to get comfortable talking about myself. It’s another thing people my age do. They talk too much, and live too little.”

He stood up now. When he’d been seated for more than a few minutes, it took some effort. Sometimes it would even take him a couple tries to get off a couch or out of a chair. But he never asked for help, and didn’t now.

“I’ll see you at practice on Monday,” he said to Lucas. Then he raised his voice slightly and said, “Thanks for dinner, Julia.”

Lucas walked his grandfather to the front door. But as he opened it for him, Gramps suddenly pulled him into a bear hug.

“You had yourself a great day today,” he said to Lucas. “What you should be focusing on is that.”

“We had a great day,” Lucas said.

“Have it your way,” Gramps said. “Because all we’ve got is today.”

He pulled out of the hug and stared at Lucas, and then looked down at him.

“Love you,” Gramps said.

“Love you more,” Lucas said.

Gramps smiled.

“No,” he said, “you don’t.”

He closed the door. Lucas watched through the curtains of the front window as he limped toward his car. As he did, he felt his mom’s hand on his shoulder.

“I heard some of that,” she said.

“Did it make sense to you?” Lucas said.

“He’s a sweet, proud, shy, stubborn man,” she said. “I always kid with him that he thinks people his own age are older than him. Maybe he really doesn’t want to act like them.”

“I’m kind of stubborn too,” Lucas said.

“Wonder where you get it from?” his mom said.

“I want this to be a tribute to him,” Lucas said. “I’ve just got to figure out a way to make him see that.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want a tribute,” his mom said.

“Why not?” Lucas said.

“Because maybe he thinks it will sound like the kind of eulogy people give you when you’re gone,” she said.

EIGHT

On Monday in class, Mr. Collins said that the reason that he’d given them as long as he had to do the paper was because it was going to count for most of their first-semester grade.

“I’m challenging you all to do your very best work,” he said. “But what I want you to do even more is challenge yourselves.”

When he asked for a show of hands to find out how many of them had already picked their subject, Lucas only got his right hand up as high as his shoulder.