Excerpt: This World and the Other

I always liked Donald Hiram Ryoko, and I regret not seeing him much after the funeral. I always remember him as the man who gave me a glass of 7 Up as I sat on his couch in his million-dollar living room, waiting to escort his daughter to a middle school dance.

He gave her away wearing a beautiful tuxedo, a classic black tuxedo he had custom made for the occasion. He danced the second dance with her, of course, and I will always remember that he smiled and closed his eyes as tears ran down his cheeks. The song was “How You’ve Grown” by the 10,000 Maniacs.

He cried during our wedding, but he didn't shed any tears during her funeral. Not in public, anyway.

But I was 12 years old that long ago day in November, and I had no idea the injustice the world could store and unleash.