The telephone rang. Jack answered the call from his mother, “Mr. Richard died last night. The funeral is Wednesday.” Memories flashed through his mind like an old newsreel (新闻影片) as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days. It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, career, and life itself got in the way. In fact, Jack moved across the country in pursuit of his dreams. There, in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son.   

“Jack, did you hear me?”

“Oh, sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It’s been so long since I thought of him.” Jack said.

“Well, he didn’t forget you. Every time I saw him he’d ask how you were doing. He’d reminisced (追忆) about the many days you spent over ‘his side of the fence’ as he put it,” Mom told him.

After Jack’s father died, Mr. Richard stepped in to make sure Jack had a man’s influence in his life and it was Mr. Richard who taught Jack many things. Jack wouldn’t have been in this business if it hadn’t been for Mr. Richard.

Busy as he was, he returned home and attended the funeral, which was small and uneventful. Mr. Richard had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.

The night before Jack had to return home, he and his mother stopped by to see the old house next door one more time. Standing in the middle of the room, Jack paused for a moment. It was like crossing over into another dimension, a leap through space and time. The house was exactly as he remembered. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture... Jack stopped suddenly.

“What’s wrong, Jack?” Mom asked.

“Where is the watch, the thing he valued most?” he seemed to ask himself.

“It was a gold pocket watch that he used to wear every day,” he told his mom.

One day Jack received a package on his desk.

The boiling hot sun beamed onto us as we walked out for the state-cup finals. The mix of excitement and nervousness created tension in the air as everyone walked out onto the football field. I could feel my heart pounding everywhere in my body as both teams lined up.

Starting midfield, like always. 90-minute game, like always. But this was the most extraordinary stage we’ve ever played on. All parents of us were invited to watch the match. As we got ready for kickoff, fear took over my body. Coach says confidence is the biggest part of the game, but for me, it’s my biggest enemy.

My thoughts were interrupted as the high-pitched whistle stabbed my ears, and the game began. The ball came straight to me. I drove forward, slipped around a defender (后卫), and lost it. On the very next play, I gave it straight away again. I could feel my confidence just seeping away. I told myself I wouldn’t lose it again.

“Come on, Aidan, keep the ball!” shouted Griffin, my teammate. It wasn’t mean or anything. We’ve known each other for years and played together for a long time. But it was not helping. I just played it safe next time and passed it back. Barely even on target, I was losing it. I could feel our coach, Caden’s eyes burning into the back of my head.

“Aidan, stay out wide on the start and get up that field. You’ve done it before, it’s coming to you on this kickoff. Use your speed.” once again shouted Griffin. But I didn’t feel fast enough. I felt like there were rocks tied to my ankles when I ran.

The whistle blew twice for halftime. The score was still 0-0. It was a bad game on our part, sun peeked through my hair into my eyes. My mouth was as dry as a desert.

“Are you OK?” Griffin passed me a bottle of water.

Exchanging a high-five with the coach, we walked back onto the field.

When I was nine years old, we lived on a dead-end street in the countryside.

Of all the rules my mom made for me, the one that I must obey was never ever go near the empty house at the end of the street. This was a house the kids had renamed “old lady Coffet’s house”. I don’t know if that was even the lady’s real name.

Usually I spent most of my time with my best friends Jayne and Mindy. “Hey, let’s go to ‘old lady Coffet’s house’! We can walk around to see if any windows are broken and maybe slide in!” said Mindy one day. I answered first without hesitation, “No, I’m not allowed to go there. If I disobey the rule, my mom won’t take me to see the new Beatles movie on Saturday.” “Come on, she won’t even know! What about you, Jayne?” said Mindy. Jayne, always up for an adventure, responded with, “Sure! Count me in!” So that was it. I was disobeying my mom’s most serious rule.

We got on our bikes and within ten minutes we arrived. We stared at the broken steps without a railing leading up to a weather worn front door and a broken storm door hanging off on one side, with dead plants surrounding the steps. I knew that we all had the same feeling. Nervousness. I said, “I don’t think this is a good idea.” Mindy yelled, “Agreed!” as she was already turning her bike around.

“Wait,” I whispered. “I heard something.” Laying my bike down, I walked slowly following the sound over to the front of the garage. Surprisingly, there in the deep overgrown grass were two baby dogs. Seeing me reach my hands out, they both came over, licked my fingers and rolled on their backs. I called my friends to come over and said, “We have to bring these two guys home and show our parents. Otherwise, they will starve or get hurt by other animals.” “Maybe bears!” said Mindy.

So that was the plan—we would first bring the baby dogs home and show my parents.