Miles asked Daniel if college guys wore watches. Daniel said some do. Miles said I don’t need one. Daniel said you don’t. The don’t was a door closed softly. Alicia heard from the pantry and stayed in the pantry a second longer than the crackers required. Crackers were a excuse. She came out. She put the crackers on a plate. Plates were normal. Normal was a campaign. They ate crackers before dinner and called it bad parenting and did it anyway. Bad parenting of the cracker kind was a relief. The other kind had been a chair. They knew the difference. The difference was the whole curriculum. Miles ate. He did not ask for the huge watch. The huge watch was in another city on a wrist that was not coming back. Daniel had set it on the mail and then in a box and then in a lot. The route was complete. The question was not. What man. A name. A puzzle. A stopped clock. They lived beside the answer. Breakfast. A hose. A boy who ran in and, this time, in his own clothes.
The roof leak returned in a hard rain. Daniel was home. That was the difference. He put the bucket down himself. Alicia held the flashlight. Miles wanted to hold it. They let him. The light shook. The shake was six, then seven. Daniel said steady. Miles steadied. The patch from before had failed at a seam. Daniel said I see it. Seeing it was a sentence with no jacket in it. Alicia was grateful and did not say so. Saying so would have made a leak into a moral. The leak was a leak. They called a roofer. The roofer came on a Saturday. Daniel stayed. The staying was the point he did not announce. Julian was not the roofer. The roofer was a woman named Pat who did not do puzzles. She fixed the seam. She charged fair. Fair was a bill. Daniel paid. Alicia made coffee for Pat. Coffee was allowed to be only coffee. They were reclaiming coffee. Miles showed Pat a drawing. Pat said the arms were ambitious. Miles said they hug better. Pat laughed. The laugh was clean. Alicia stood in it. Clean laughs were a currency. She was poor in them and spending anyway.
Renee came for the boy’s birthday and did not mention the office. Mentioning was Alicia’s to do. Alicia did not. The cake was chocolate. Miles wore a paper crown, not a jacket. Daniel took a photo. The photo had all three. Alicia looked at it later and did not flinch. Flitching would have given the chair the party. The party was a crown. She ordered the print. The print went on the fridge over a drawing. Covering was not hiding. The drawing was still there at the edge. Edges were honest. Daniel saw the print and said he looked swallowed by the crown. Miles said that’s the point. They smiled. The smile was smaller than the island smile and more durable. Durable was the aim.
Helen asked Alicia what she would do if Miles brought home another strange sleeve. Alicia said ask whose, in front of Daniel, immediately. Helen said that is a policy. Alicia wrote policy under clock. Daniel did not mind the second card. Cards were her tools. His tool was presence. He took a Saturday a month even when the site wanted him. The site complained. He said the roof at home. The boss said the roof is done. Daniel said the other one. The boss did not understand. Understanding was not required. The Saturday was taken. Alicia did not fill it with a guest. Guests were sisters and boys and a roofer. The list was short on purpose. Short lists were how kitchens stayed kitchens.