*Solar Efficiency Experiments: Grade 6.*

“My journals,” I whispered, my hand trembling as I touched the cardboard cover.

“She told me she threw these in the recycling bin when I left for college.”

“She did,” my father said.

He looked down at his shoes, his hands stuffed deep into his pockets.

“She said they were cluttering up the attic,” he said. “She said you needed to focus on law or finance, not silly backyard projects.”

He looked up, his eyes glassy in the dim light.

“I went out to the curb in the middle of the night,” he said. “I took them out of the bin before the truck came.”

A cold draft of wind swept down the alley, rustling the dry leaves on the pavement.

“I hid them in the crawlspace behind the furnace,” he said. “For twelve years.”

I pulled a green notebook from the middle of the stack.

The pages were filled with hand-drawn circuit diagrams and tables of solar radiation data.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

“I was afraid,” he said simply.

The honesty of his words hung in the cold air between us.