He says the words he knows he's supposed to say, says the things that are proper and right, because his life was anything but in his father's eyes and he supposes that's the one thing he owes him now; even though he's not really sure he owes his father anything any more. Not now when there are all these lies coming out, erupting in the too hot sun that beats against Kevin's neck until he moves into the shade.

He watches his siblings, his mother, the people whose faces are familiar and the ones whose names he doesn't know. He watches them all move like actors in some scene he's never gotten the script for, reciting lines and unsure if he's got the right cue or hitting the right mark. He remembers drama in high school and the botched cyberpunk re-telling of Romeo and Juliet he'd gotten involved in, and it's all the same. Pretty words that hide pretty lies that we tell each other from day to day.