Summary

In Chapter 1, D’Andre Miller left the Rainier Beach Community Center holding his prized leather basketball securely in his arms. At 12, it was the first time he had been allowed to play with the older boys in their pickup league and he was proud that his three-point shot had won the game. He had dreams of playing basketball professionally but his mother pushed him to get good grades. Hurrying to get home before curfew, D’Andre saw a blur in his peripheral vision. The impact threw the basketball from his hands. It bounced until it came to rest in the gutter.

In Chapter 2, Tracy met her partner, Kingsington “Kins” Rowe, at a pub where Kins talked about the surgery he had scheduled to replace a hip because a football injury had become degenerative. He had been treating the pain only with pain medication...