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enough chance of failure.”
    “Failure? You wanted to fail at flying?” Beth asked astonished. “You mean you wanted to die?”
    “No. And no I didn’t have suicidal thoughts because of what happened to Billy. It was more like other sports held more chance of getting that high. Flying and hang gliding were too easy. With a mountain, or water beneath me I couldn’t always tell where the next tree or wave would be. So I became adventure addicted—I even tried bungee jumping when it first came out if that tells you anything.”
    “It tells me you’re crazy,” Beth laughed.
    “Maybe I am. It is almost like my drug of choice you know. I have friends who do cocaine, I have friends who drink heavily, and I have friends who pick up new sex partners nightly. That’s their thing. I don’t do any of that, but I do go wild for on-the-edge experiences. One time I even tried walking on a tight rope, just for fun.”
    “That’s fun?”
    “For me it was. I almost made it too, but slipped.”
    “There was a net, right?”
    “Nope. That was part of the thrill. No net. But I was lucky, I caught the rope.”
    “You were lucky.”
    “Yeah, it’s almost as if I couldn’t die. Especially considering all the amazing things I’ve tried. Like I was not fated to die just yet. So that’s part of what has changed.”
    “Only part?” Beth asked.
    “Well, a few other things happened.”
    “Like what?”
    “I was deathly allergic to penicillin as a kid. After a night of studying like crazy, I took this exam in college. Well I finished it, but I passed out. Pneumonia, they told me later. The doctors didn’t have a medical history on me and injected me with penicillin. Instead of a terrible reaction, it actually saved my life. It could have been a fluke or something I guess.”
    “That’s true. Truth is stranger than fiction sometimes.”
    “Yes. My interests changed in high school.”
    “You told me, you became interested in sports.”
    “That and I began to hate English, which I had always wanted to go into. For all my childhood I remember wanting to be a college professor.”
    “A noble cause.”
    “Yes I know it is. And you’re great at it.”
    “Thanks.”
    “But in college I turned to business. Something I had never been interested in before. I even took classes in Accounting.”
    “So? Kids change.”
    “They do. But I had always hated math before, even stunk at it. Yet I found that I got better and better at it. And science too. I had liked English and history as a kid, but as I got older I became more proficient at science and math. Weird, huh?”
    “Kind of. Most kids who like the humanities don’t do well in the sciences, and vice versa. At least from my experience. Not that you couldn’t have liked both. But you said you did better than you expected.”
    “I did. I got better in science and worse in history. Of course, who really cares about the Renaissance?” Kevin teased, knowing she taught history.
    “That is strange. But not from a guy who turned lef-handed,” Beth teased back.
    “I guess I deserved that bit of ribbing. One other thing has changed since Billy died.”
    Some kids screamed in the background. Beth said, “Hold on Kevin.” Then she moved the phone from her mouth, but Kevin heard her talking to her kids anyhow. The words were muffled but discernible, “Go play outside kids. I’m trying to have a conversation on the phone now. Your father said to come inside it was going to rain? Okay, stay in, but go up to your room and play there.” There was a rustling sound, “Sorry Kevin.”
    “No problem. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
    “No. I’ve got a while before dinner. Go on. You were saying there was one other change since Billy. What was it?”
    “I met a girl. I mean a woman.”
    “Oh, that’s great. What’s her name?”
    “It’s Rose.”
    “How’d you meet?”
    “That’s the odd part. We met in a country and western bar. I’d always hated country music as a kid,