Chapter 24: Linden Row

In April the hedge under the front window came into leaf, and the locksmith came on a Saturday morning.

I had asked him to cut three keys.

He was a friendly man with a ring of blanks on his belt.

He worked at my kitchen table while Leah leaned on the counter and watched.

"Three?" Leah said. "Who gets the third?"

"Otto."

"He's seven in June."

"He's seven in June, and he's lost two lunchboxes this year. I'm giving him a key on a lanyard."

"He'll lose it."

"Then I'll cut another."

She grinned into her coffee.

Outside, a truck rolled into the drive.

Cavan got out first and went around to the passenger side.

Otto came down from the cab with a paper bag in each hand.

"We got the good bread!" he called through the screen. "The kind with the seeds!"

"I see that."

"Cavan says seeds are for birds, but I said I'm a bird!"

"I never said that," Cavan said, coming up the walk behind him.

"You did, in the car."

"I said they're for people who like seeds."

"That's the same thing!"

Leah laughed so hard she had to put her cup down.

I took the keys from the locksmith and paid him in cash.

Then I walked out to the porch and sat on the step in the early sun.

The three of them came out after me.

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