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I needed to get out I crept around the house and out the front, snagging a book and my bicycle on the way out I couldn’t ride the baby blue bike of e round wheels, handlebars like a Texas Longhorn, and a basket on the front It lish lady would ride through the countryside It suited me I breathed as Ilow in the west, and the breeze was just light enough to be pleasant

I went to rass around the stone and brushing off the stray leaves and debris I liked the feel of her naers I talked to her a minute, told her hoas, that I missed her, and then made my way over to Kasey’s headstone His parents had purchased the biggest lossy and ornate with ‘Our Beloved Son’ centered across the top They’d had a picture of Kasey erave could see the handso froranite not to feel soedy of our loss He had been so alive and bright and beautifuland his picture only captured a tiny piece of his ret over his i to the other side where I wouldn’t have to see his face as I read

I had only been lost in Baroness Orczy’s The Elusive Pi Sah the headstones, never stepping over, walking around and down as he ht hi so the Navajo I didn’t know if that was true sohere all the same

He stopped when he was a few feet away I sat on the east side of Kasey’ssun and had to turn his face a little to look at me He squatted down and found relief in the shade of the ht he would ask s that people usually say when nothing else see, looking around at the stones, e the quiet It was I who finally spoke

"That was a little strange back at the house" I struggled to find words to explain without assued to Lorraine and Brent’s son Kasey He was killed in a car accident three weeks before our wedding It’s been over four years, but for therandmother told me" He didn’t expound further, and I wondered what exactly Nettie had told him and when I decided it didn’t ht over there" He pointed back in the direction he had corave when I first cao I’d never seen it before I’ve never been back until today" The silence was heavy around us

"Does it make you feel better to come here?" He asked solemnly, his black eyes bottomless as they trained in on my own

I started to answer in the affirmative, and then couldn’t I didn’t know if I felt better when I came here Often I felt fresh pain and a sense of tirave had once been a quiet place for co place provided the sa, and I wished Samuel had not come here

"What do you mean?" My voice was a little sharp, and I bit my lower lip in censure

Sarave He looked into Kasey’s se without reaction "Do you feel better when you coain

No "Yes," I lied "I like the quiet" That was true, at least

"There is quiet, and there is too much quiet," Samuel said cryptically

I waited for hiain at Kasey’s picture

I clis froht me back from her vacation to Mexico earlier in the summer

"Did you love hiardedThe way he held himself was so still, so contained He never seemed to breath, his only movement was the blink of his ebony eyes He had always had that stillness I wondered if his training had made it even more pronounced He definitely didn’t have any scruples about asking very pointed questions I don’t think that had anything to do with the training That was just Sa my way towards where I had left my bike He followed me; I could see him peripherally He moved so quietly that if I didn’t knoas there, I never would have heard hiotten to the ceive hi the two of us hoo when I’d sprained e with one of Samuel stuffed in my flowered bicycle basket It made me feel a little better

"Did you walk?" I questioned hirassy shoulder of the dirt road where a chestnut mare nibbled contentedly