Chapter 1: The Shattered Dream
It was a Friday, and Mr. Koda had promised to take his family out for a special dinner to celebrate Boris’s outstanding academic achievements. The dusk was just beginning to fall when Mr. Koda checked his watch.
He pushed his chair back from the table, adjusted his belt, and grabbed his car keys from the small wooden shelf near the front door.
“Darling, you and Boris go ahead and get ready,” he said, turning back to look at them, his eyes filled with love. “I am going to walk down to the car wash to pick up the vehicle. We are going to have a wonderful evening, just the three of us.” He winked at his son. “Boris, you get to pick the restaurant tonight.”
Boris looked up from his homework, a radiant smile breaking across his face. “Yes, Papa! Even the fancy Chinese restaurant downtown?”
Mr. Koda let out a booming, hearty laugh. “Even the Chinese restaurant, my champion.”
He kissed his wife one last time, squeezed Boris’s shoulder affectionately, and walked out the door. Those were the very last words he would ever speak to his family.
Kafui and Boris immediately began getting ready with buzzing enthusiasm. Kafui took out her most beautiful dress, the emerald green one that Mr. Koda loved so much, while Boris meticulously polished his Sunday shoes until they shined.
An hour passed. Then two.
The excitement in the small house slowly morphed into a creeping, icy anxiety. Kafui began pacing, constantly looking out the window down the darkening street.
Suddenly, the harsh ringing of the telephone shattered the heavy silence of the house. Kafui snatched the receiver off the hook, her heart pounding.
“Hello?”
An unknown voice, cold and brutally professional, echoed in the earpiece. “Madame Koda? This is the central police precinct. There has been an accident.”
The words that followed became lost in a deafening, roaring fog inside Kafui’s head. The blood drained from her face. She felt her legs completely give way beneath her. The phone slipped from her trembling hands and crashed onto the floor.
Boris, hearing the clatter, ran into the room. “Mama? Mama, what’s going on?!”
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