Chapter 19: The Table

Otto stood in my front hall on Sunday at five with his shoes in his hand, and looked up at the ceiling.

"It's big," he said.

"It's old," I said. "Come in. You can leave your shoes by the mat."

"Mom says I'm not allowed in your house."

"Your mom said yes to today."

He considered that.

"Okay," he said, and set the shoes down with great care, side by side.

Cavan stood behind him with a grocery bag in each arm.

"He chose the menu," he said.

"I chose spaghetti," Otto said. "And the kind of cheese that's already grated."

"Both noted," Leah said, coming out of the kitchen with a wooden spoon.

She had arrived at three, which was not in the plan, and she had been stirring my sauce ever since.

Otto looked at her.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Audrey's sister. I'm a pharmacist. I know what's in every pill."

"Do you know what's in a dinosaur?"

"Bones."

"That's correct," he said, impressed, and followed her to the kitchen.

I stood in the hall with Cavan and listened to them argue about whether a Stegosaurus had two brains.

"He's decided you're safe," Cavan said quietly.

"How can you tell?"

"He took his shoes off."

We ate at my mother's dining table, the one the balloons had been tied to.

Otto sat on two cushions between Cavan and me, and he ate his spaghetti one noodle at a time, slurping each one up with a face of deep concentration.

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