Chapter 14Several minutes after returning from a run the next morning, I found a note from my parents indicating they'd gone to Sunday mass and planned to meet some friends for brunch. I'd just peeled out of my sweaty gym clothes and turned the shower on when the house phone rang. I looked at the caller id, noticing my brother, Hampton, was calling. Other than a few summers and major holidays, we'd spent little time together as adults. He'd grown more conservative and closed-minded once he connected with his wife's oil tycoon father and focused on building his own empire.
“Howdy! How's my favorite hampster doing?” I teased, answering the phone. When we were young kids, my brother had brought home his class pet, Houdini, to care for it over a long holiday weekend, but the hamster went miss
