Building Baby Brother (continued)

Several days passed. The question of Gavin's eventual fate continued to weigh heavily on my mind. No matter what else I might be doing, my thoughts kept returning to that conversation in the workshop. Yet, even as the time passed, I was no closer to an answer.

Not surprisingly, it was Josh who led me to part of the answer.

He arrived home from school one afternoon and announced, "Dad, I need to go to the library."

I looked up from the kitchen counter where I was preparing his pre-homework snack.

"What for? Can't you use your computer to find whatever you need?"

Josh shook his head in annoyance.

"No," he replied, dropping his backpack to the floor as he settled into a chair at the kitchen bar. "Mrs. Fox wants us to use real books for this assignment."

Real books.

The way he said it nearly made me laugh.

How fast the generations change . . .

“Real books” were all I had to work from when I was his age. For Josh and his classmates, though, home computers and worldwide internet access were as nearly commonplace as AM radios had been in the era I grew up in.

"Okay," I told him. "We'll go as soon as you finish your snack."

I poured him a glass of juice and placed a plate before him.

"Thanks, Dad," he said, and began eating.

"No problem," I murmured, and tousled his hair lightly with one hand.

I watched him attack the food on his plate as if he hadn’t seen any real sustenance in days.

Oh terrific, I thought. Another growing spurt. The next thing you know, he'll be old enough to take himself to the library . . .

There was the answer.

Not a complete answer, perhaps, but definitely part of the solution to Gavin's dilemma.

My mind raced, tracing through the necessary steps. After several more moments of watching Josh eat, I began to shift impatiently from one foot to the other.

We had to go. So we could come back. So I could test my idea.

Josh cocked his head in my direction.

"Dad? Are you okay?"

I could not suppress the smile.

"Yeah. I'm quite okay." I waited only a moment. "Are you ready to go yet?"