The Most Important Thing: Stories about Sons, Fathers, and Grandfathers

Billy Kinley is 11 and lives with his mother in their mobile home, and the two of them make the most of what little they have. Billy’s father left when he was young. He was a stock car racer, and Billy continues to look up to him, hoping that one day his father might come back or notice him. Billy’s mother is saving for a house, and sometimes they talk about the kitchen table they might have one day. Billy’s mother imagines a small nook, but Billy hopes for a big table, with room for more people if needed.

When a Memorial Day bike race is announced, Billy hopes to enter, dreaming of the possibility of being in the newspaper and having his father notice him. For his 12th birthday, Billy’s mother buys him a second-hand red bicycle, and Billy knows it is a big gesture. He’s extremely grateful and proud of his bike, and he spends his days riding, cleaning, and inspecting it, getting to know every nick and scratch.

When Billy brings his bike to school one day and leaves it unlocked, he comes out after class to find it stolen. He is heartbroken and humiliated, and in the next few weeks, he visits the police station every day, hoping it had been found.