Chapter 24: Five Chairs

Eli's school bus came at seven forty, and at seven thirty he still could not find his left boot.

"It's under the bench," Erik said from the stove.

"It's not."

"Look again, buddy."

"It's not. It's gone. It went away, like Daddy."

The kitchen went quiet.

Erik turned the burner down and looked at me over Eli's head.

I crouched in front of my son and put my hands on his small, cold ears.

"Daddy went away because of things he did," I said. "The boot is under the bench because you kicked it there last night."

Eli frowned, and bent, and came up holding the boot.

"Oh," he said.

"Oh," I said.

"I'm sorry I said that."

"It's a fair thing to wonder about. You can say it to me any time."

He put the boot on and stood up and hugged my legs.

The bus came, yellow and loud, and Erik carried his backpack to the end of the drive.

I stood at the window and watched Eli turn around in the bus door and wave at both of us with his whole arm.

Erik came back in stamping snow off his boots.

"He waved at you twice," I said.

"He waved at both of us."

"I know."

Craig had written from the county jail on Monday.

I had not opened the letter.

His lawyer had called as well.

His client would plead to the charge and not contest the custody order.

Dorothea had called, too, to say her sister had eaten two helpings of eggs.

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