The Loskis have been throwing away my eggs because they're afraid of salmonella. Because our yard
is such a mess.
Did Patsy say that?
No, Bryce did.
But it must have been a family discussion. A boy doesn't come up with that on his own.
Who cares what they think?
Yeah, who cares?
I care.
Trina, let's not get into this.
No, I'm tired of living like this, Richard. I'm tired of having to take temp jobs just to make ends
meet. I'm tired of having to push a chair up against the washing machine just to keep the door shut.
I'm tired of having to borrow Mrs.Steuby's vacuum cleaner every time ours breaks down.
Do you think this is the life I pictured for us? Sometimes you have to sacrifice to do the right
thing. We always end up agreeing that Devonhurst is the right thing for Daniel.
Well, maybe we should start thinking about what's right for us. Our daughter is suffering because
we won't fix up our own yard.
It's not our yard.
How can you say that, Richard? How? We've lived here for 12 years and for 12 years we've been
saying it's temporary, but it's not. This is our home. Is it wrong to wanna live somewhere you can
be proud of? To have enough to send your kids to college? Maybe it's time we considered government
care.
We're not moving my brother.
He's more important than your own children?
Dad!
How dare you!
Stop it, dad! Please, just stop.
I'm sorry, Jullianna, this is not your fault. We'll work this out, I promise.
That was the first time I ever heard my parents really yell at each other.
I'm sorry about tonight.
That night they each came into my room. My father talked about his brother and how much he loved
him, and how he promised his parents he'd always take care of him. My mother talked about how much
she loved my father for his strength and kind heart. When she kissed me good night, she whispered
that of all her many blessings, I was her best.
I felt sorry for my father. I felt sorry for my mother. But most of all, I felt lucky for me that
they were mine. I wanted to think the reason I started working on my yard had nothing to do with
Bryce. It was only about making our house better. After what he did with the eggs, why should I
care what he thought about anything? But I did.
Are you pruning that or trying to hack it to death? Hi, I'm Chet Duncan, Bryce's grandfather. Sorry
it's taken me so long to come over and introduce myself.
Nice to meet you.
So are you trimming all these to the same height?
Well, yeah, that's what I was thinking, but I don't know. Do you think it would look better to take
them out?
Oh, these are Hicksii shrubs. These will prune up nicely.
Listen, My.Duncan.
Call me Chet.
Chet. If you're here because of what Bryce said, I don't need your help.
Read about you in the paper. Renee would've sat up in that tree with you. She would've sat up there
all night.
Renee?
My wife.
You remind me a lot of her.
We worked on the yard for weeks. And the whole time we worked, we talked. He wanted to know more
about the sycamore tree. He knew exactly what it meant about the whole being greater than the sum
of its parts. He said it was the same with people, but sometimes with people, the whole could be
less. I thought that was pretty interesting. I started looking at people I'd known since elementary
school, trying to figure out if they were more or less than the sum of their parts. Chet was right.
A lot of them were less. Of all my classmates, the one person I couldn't seem to place was Bryce.
Until recently, I would've said with absolute certainty that he was greater, far greater, than the
sum of his parts. But now I wasn't so sure.
It's looking good, Juli. Nice job.
Thanks. Chet did most of it.
I'm sorry for what I did.
I just don't get it, Bryce. Why didn't you just tell me?
Was he really sorry? Or was he just saying these things to make himself feel better? Then I thought
maybe I just wanted him to be more than the sum of his parts. But as I looked into his eyes, those
dazzling eyes, for the first time, I was pretty sure that Bryce was less.