Under a canopy of massive oak trees Natalie and Rudy sat on a bench while Will paced back and forth. As he spoke they barely moved. They might have been statues if it weren’t for their breathing, so rapt was their attention. He told them about a fateful night that had changed the course of his life forever, a night that had bound him to his eternal duty. He was just eight years old and coming home from fishing up at Fallen Leaf Lake with his father, Edward. They’d been to a baseball game that same weekend and had gone out for ice cream, too. Edward had been so loving and attentive to Will that he’d even let him hold his prized railroad watch. It was an Elgin pocket watch, the watch Edward had inherited from his own grandfather. As young Will held the watch to his ear and listened to the ticking, Edward smiled and hugged him and told him someday the watch would be his. It was as if Edward had known what was coming and was trying to cram in as much face time with his son as he could before .
