2024, 10:06 a.m.

Rick put a hand on Bobby’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You ain’t broken, kid,” he said. “You’re just scared—like we’re all scared.”

Sterling Wilder 1/1/26 Sterling Wilder 1/1/26

ACT III

After years of security—same job, same home—I am reckoning with the complacency that brought me here, stuck at the top of a ladder leaning against the wrong wall.