Heartsong (Logan 2)

didn't respond, so I went upstairs to get him. I called

him again from the bottom of the attic ladder and still

he didn't answer me. When I looked in the attic room,

I found him sitting and staring at a model of a lobster

boat.

"Cary, dinner's ready," I said. "Your mother

wants you to come down. She needs you, Cary." "I made this when I was only seven years old,"

he said, staring down at the model. "Dad was really

surprised at how well it came out. For a while we kept

it downstairs on the mantle so Dad could show it to

his friends. He wasn't always the way he is now.

When I first started to go out on the boat with him, we

were more like brothers than father and son. He taught

me everything about the boat and the business and

said I was his good luck charm. We had much better

catches in those days.

"After Laura's death everything changed.

Sometimes I think we all died with her," he said, "in

different ways, I guess. Dad kept too much of it inside

him, eating away. Then . . I became a disappointment

to him."

"You're not a disappointment to anyone, Cary.

Anyone who says that just doesn't know. You've been

a better son than any boy I ever met, but you are your

own person and it's not a sin for you to want things

that are different from your father's desires. Deep

inside himself, your father knows that. You had

nothing to do with this. I'm sure," I said.

He raised his shoulders slowly and turned. "But after last night . . . He hasn't struck me for

years," he said.