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Maybe it was death

Mary noticed John looking intensely at her “What?” she said

“You wouldn’t ever…”

Mary smiled and ruffled his curly red hair “Never I would never leave you Missing Mom and Dad?”

John nodded “I keep thinking about how many times I made them mad”

“John…”

“I know I know that doesn’t matter But it’s like…” He couldn’t find the words, so hehis heart

So at Mary’s shirt fro heart saw a little boy named…named…she couldn’t remember his name But the second little boy behind him she remembered was Sean She knehy they were there They had both recently had their fifth birthdays The age lie five you had to move out—hopefully to a house with some responsible older kids

“Hi, kids What’s up?” Mary asked as she brought her face down to their level

“Um…,” the first one said And then he burst into tears

She shouldn’t do it, she knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t stop herself fro her ar as well, so the embrace was extended, and John was in there, too, and Mary heard herself saying of course, of course they could come back, just for today, just for a little while

FOUR

106 HOURS, 8 MINUTES

COATES ACADEMY WAS quite a bit the worse for wear Battles had da There was a hole in the ashed brick so big, you could see an entire second-story classrooap that didn’t quite reach to the top of the first-storybelow Most of the glass in the as gone The kids hadsheets of plastic over the holes, but the tape had loosened and now the plastic and the tape hung li looked as if it had been through a war It had been

The grounds were a mess Grass that had always been trireild in soone yellow as hay in others And weeds pushed up through the circular gravel drivehere once parents’ minivans and SUVs and luxury sedans had lined up