Day Seven I Signed It novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: The Lawn

By seven the next morning there were five people on my mother's lawn.

Reese had set up a ring light on a tripod next to the azaleas.

She stood in front of it in a camel coat, holding her phone at arm's length and talking to it in her bright voice.

"Good morning, everybody. We're live outside the family home. Yes, this is the house. Yes, he's in there."

I stood in the front hallway and watched her through the glass.

I hadn't slept.

I had lain on the couch under my mother's afghan with my father's letter in my coat pocket, and the phone had buzzed until four.

Four hundred new messages from people I'd never met, all with opinions about my brother.

"Stay inside," my mother said behind me.

She was in her housecoat, with her glasses on their cord and a mug in her hand.

"Mom, I'll deal with it."

"I know you will," Joan said. "I'm coming to watch."

I opened the front door.

Reese saw me and her whole face lit up.

"And there he is! Colin! Colin, what do you say to the people who've been rooting for you?"

"Turn it off, Reese."

"It's a public street."

"You're standing on my mother's grass."

She looked down at her heels, then back up, smiling.

"Is it?"

"It is," Joan said.

She had come out onto the porch beside me and pointed with her mug.

"The sidewalk is there, dear. The stone is there. Your tripod's leg is in my azaleas."

"Mrs. Tavish, we're only..."

"I ran the front office of an elementary school for thirty-one years," my mother said. "I have sent grown men to the principal. Move the light."

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