A Deadly Wandering

Reggie and his mom drive home. Reggie expresses fear about the possibility of going to jail. He lies in his room and prays as his phone rings, because word of the accident is spreading. He asserts he truly doesn’t remember anything before walking toward Kaiserman’s car after the wreck.

ATK Launch Systems, where Keith and Jim worked, is a company that designs rocket boosters and motors for NASA and private space companies. Tom Higgs, a manager at ATK, was one of Keith’s best friends. When he and rest of the ATK team learn that their friends are dead, they react with shock and disbelief.

A student asks Van Park, the basketball coach at Reggie’s former high school, if Park has heard about the accident. Everyone knows everyone in Tremonton: It’s a tight-knit community, so word has gotten around. Reggie was well liked at his high school by most of the teachers and coaches. Van Park recalls a time when he was “almost as broke as you’d see with someone who lost a loved one” (44) after a loss in the state tournament.

Reggie’s parents both went to high school in Tremonton. Reggie’s father, Ed, had a troubled childhood: His father drank and his mother had a stroke when Ed was 11 years old.