He’d finished his homework before he’d left for Westley Park. He’d done a really good job on his room, not even tossing any clothes under the bed, as much of a hurry as he was in. Now he was next to his mom on the couch. As usual, Lucas had his laptop out so he could follow what was happening in other games around the NBA. For now, though, he was focused on the Celtics, who seemed to be making up a ten-point deficit in a blink, mostly because of the defense and ballhandling and passing of Jayson Tatum, who was suddenly on a rip. Tatum had just driven down the lane and then kicked out a no-look pass to Gordon Hayward in the corner. Then Hayward drained a wide-open three-pointer.

“Gramps says that people always talk about the open man in basketball,” Lucas said to his mom. “But he says they should talk about the most open man.”

“He used to say the same thing to your dad,” she said, and sighed so loudly it made both of them laugh. “All the time.”

On the screen, Tatum made another steal, drove the ball down the court with Hayward, the taller guy, on his left. Two-on-one fast break. But this time Tatum gave the defender a head fake, the defender moved over in front of Hayward, and Tatum drove past him, and elevated and dunked the ball.

When the first quarter ended, the score was tied. His mom said there was something to do in the kitchen. She came back about five minutes later with the popcorn she’d just heated in the microwave.

“Who’s the best mom in the world?” Lucas said again.

“I believe that question has already been asked and answered,” she said.

Then she said, “How’s Gramps?”

“I hate it when he talks so much about being old,” Lucas said.

“He is old, honey,” she said.

“I just don’t want him going anywhere,” Lucas said.

“Your grandfather,” she said, “is healthy as a horse. And you know why? Because of all the good he has in him.”

“I just don’t want anything to happen to him,” Lucas said.

His mom reached for the remote and muted the game. “Where’s this coming from?”

“He just seems to talk more and more about being an old man,” Lucas said. “He even used that as an excuse for not coming in for apple pie and ice cream.”

“He’s just watching what he eats so he stays around for a long time,” Julia said. “And you know that joking about his age is kind of his thing.”

She leaned over now and pulled Lucas close to her.

“He is going to be around for a long, long time,” she said. “And would you like to know the reason why?”

“Why?”

“You.”

THREE