“Pa’s steaks. He grilled a mean one. Nothing fancy. Salt and pepper. Sage butter and grill sauce. Miss them still.”
“What happened to him?”
“He was a boiler welder—pretty specialized and high demand in the welding world. Means we traveled a lot. Just lived out of the RV and rolled to wherever the job was. I think my record was seven different schools for fifth grade, but we were solid. Real close. While I was overseas, he got into something bad. No one’s sure exactly what happened. They think a junior welder bled some acetylene onto a copper feed pipe, then torched it off. Burned up the hose and back to the tank, which blew apart and killed all four guys inside the boiler.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not you’re doing. Besides, he had asbestosis from work he’d done as a kid for a shyster building co
