CHAPTER 21CHARLIE
August 16, 2090
On a crisp fall day, I accompanied Griff to meet with Roger Zimmer, one of his dad’s colleagues and fellow pendant owner. Duringthedrive from Kansas City to St. Louis, hetold me his mom had been diagnosed with cancer when he was young and lost her fight when he was eight. His mom’s brother, Uncle Mac, had been the one who was there for him, visiting him often, helping him with homework over the phone, attending his baseball games, and sending him money after he ran away from home and didn’t know where to turn. Griff looked up to his uncle the way I looked up to him.
When we arrived at the farmhouse where Zimmer lived alone—he’d never had any children, according to Griff—I waited outside so I wouldn’t make the meeting awkward. Lying on the hood of the ca
