I HUGGED MY father tightly, and for the first time in my life, he didn’t wrap his strong, protective arms around me. I felt the loss like a punch in the gut, but at the same time I was overcome with joy to be holding him again. I pressed my face against his chest, feeling his strong, steady heartbeat. He’d lost weight, and he smelled like he hadn’t bathed in a month, but he was alive.
I rose up to my knees and ran my hand from his forehead to his jaw. He didn’t react to my touch at all, and he kept staring at the ceiling with an odd little smile on his face.
“Dad, it’s Jesse. Can you hear me?” I shook him gently, trying to rouse him. “Where’s Mom?”
He didn’t answer, and I looked past him to a pile of dirty blankets in the corner of the cage. I crawled over him and grasped one of the
