Dad theories

I spent an obscene amount of time thinking about this and I figured I might as well share it before I finish the book. My theory of what happened to Dad: The day that Pops disappears he thinks a lot about Keith, he feels guilty about beating him and feels responsible for Keith’s death by pushing him out of the family and into the streets. Dad replays Cory’s words back in his head over and over again. After spending the entire work day feeling sick about what he had done, he decides the only way he can face Cory again is if he can somehow find Keith’s killers and bring them to the police so that they may be properly punished. Later that day, he says goodbye to his coworkers and begins to ride his bike past the gate of his home. He vows that he will not return home until he has brought his son’s killers to justice. After two days of living on the streets, Dad feels defeated. He sees the extreme poverty and suffering of all the children and feels even worse about pushing Keith away. Dad realizes he can’t ever protect those he loves most from the harsh realities outside of the gated community. He begins to believe that his family would be better off without him and so, he decides to travel north alone.