Keith found him outside. It's where his dad would usually escape to at night. With a bottle of whiskey by his side, Mr. Kogane would just sit there. Rocking back and forth of the porch swing and stare up at the sky. Until he either passed out from exhaustion or the whiskey. But it was usually the whiskey. Keith never disturbed his dad whenever he was like this. But Keith, still only six, had a very pressing dilemma before him. He couldn't sleep. So what else could he do but go to his dad? With his little heart beating in his chest, the little boy opened the mesh door of their house to venture outside. With his dad. Mr. Kogane was a huge man. Rugged from his work both on their farm and in the auto shop he worked at. He was handsome to, according to Keith's gossipy teachers. But Keith didn't find the worn lines on his father's face attractive at all. Just scary. "Dad?" Mr. Kogane startled, looking for the source of the voice. Eyes meeting his son's. He looks sad, thought Keith. There was a weakness to his otherwise strong father in that moment. A wetness to his eyes that startled Keith. Mr. Kogane trying to choke something out of his fumbling mouth. The moonlight washing over them. "P-Pal! What'er you doing up so late?" "Couldn't sleep..." Keith looked down at his bare toes on too-small PJs instead of his father's face. Still started by the sudden weakness in his otherwise strong father. "Pal...Aw c'mon. Get over here." Keith obeyed. Hoping onto the porch swing while his dad tried, in vain, to discreetly put the whiskey away. But that didn't matter. His father embracing him. How could Keith not melt into it? How could he not take comfort in the bigger, warmer body all around him? Sure, his dad smelled like whiskey and oil. But he was his dad And Keith loved him. "You're a lot like your mom, you know that?" Keith stilled. His dad never talked about his mom. EVER. "You got them smart, sharp eyes. Can hardly keep up with ya Pal." His father laughed, big and booming as he pulled back to ruffle Keith's hair. Tears in his eyes. "Sometimes...Sometimes I wonder if she can us from up there. If she loves us just as much as we love her. If..." Turning his head, Mr. Kogane pointed with a callous hand at the stars above them. Shining, glittering. Like pretty things Keith and his dad couldn't even HOPE to have. His father started sobbing. Pulling Keith close, the grown man sobbing into his son's rumpled PJs. Wailing like his heart was being crushed. And maybe it was. "If we could ever give you the life you deserve Pal."