The Kid -- Charlie Samuels -- was poor. Or more accurately his parents were. This meant Charlie had to eat a poor child's breakfast: cereal and orange juice . He ate this every morning without variation. By the time he was awake his parents would already be at the motel...

As a kid, a box of cereal felt so large. Like each box could last months. When I'd see my mom open her wallet to pay for groceries I'd see multiple 20 dollar bills and think she was mean for not buying me the toys I begged for. There was...