As scheduled, Marty came home two weeks later. As far as the siblings could tell, he was a different person. He seemed genuinely glad to be home, took over the chore of cooking their meals, and made it a point to ask them about what was going on in their lives every day. His back still gave him a great deal of pain, but he was managing the pain with over-the-counter medications.

Nolan was cheered by his father's improvement. He looked forward to their mother being released from jail in a few months, just before he was to go back to school in the fall. He worked 6 days a...