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broke a glass, and left it on the top step?”
    “Yes.”
    He started to smile and then seemed to catch himself. He cocked his head and looked at me strangely. “You’re serious?”
    “Yes, Connor Todd.”
    “Gavin, how could someone come in your house like that? And why the hell do you keep calling me Connor Todd ?”
    “Because it’s your name…did I get it wrong?”
    He looked puzzled and regarded me closely, like I might be teasing him. “No…but you shouldn’t…most people don’t…” He broke off again and his lips got firm. He nodded at me, like I’d asked him a question. “Look, just call me Connor, okay?”
    “Oh, okay. Is that why you came to see me?”
    “What? No, of course not. I have more questions for you, but I guess…I don’t think you’re up to it. Have you seen a doctor?”
    “Yes, last night. I called an ambulance, and they took me to the emergency room.” I held up my wrist brace. “That’s where I got this.”
    “Jesus, Gavin.”
    I stayed quiet, knowing that his calling on his deity was just something people did sometimes, though it never made a lot of sense to me. My grandfather used to do it a lot, and even Miguel, who didn’t seem to believe in anything, really, used to call out loudly for Christ a lot, and that was Jesus’ last name. My grandfather didn’t take me to church a lot, so I’d need to research the whole thing more.
    “Can I look at your foot?” Connor To—Connor asked me, and I shrugged and thrust it over onto his lap. He looked up at me sharply and then back down at my foot. He drew in a deep breath, and then he put a warm hand on my knee and slid it down my calf before picking up my heel and looking at the bandage. The gauze was kind of gross, being already soaked through with blood in a couple of spots, but he carefully peeled off the tape and eased the bandage down. He hissed his breath in a little as he looked at it and then back up at me.
    “It needs antibiotic cream and then to be rebandaged. Have you had your shower yet?”
    “No, Connor, you woke me up.”
    “I guess that means no breakfast either. Can I help you? I can get you some cereal or something.”
    “I don’t have any milk, but there are some packages of muffins in there. I could have one of those with my coffee.”
    “Oh…uh…coffee. I’m not too good with coffee.”
    “You have to have coffee with breakfast, Connor To—I mean, Connor. Just make me some instant.”
    “Okay,” he said, nodding and smiling a little. “I guess I can do instant. Be right back.”
    He wasn’t right back, but it didn’t take him too long, and it was all perfect until he picked up my cup and took a sip.
    I stopped in mid-chew. “That’s my cup, Connor. You can’t drink from it—there are more in the cabinet, but that’s only for me.”
    He tilted his head and looked at me like I was crazy. I’d seen that look plenty of times before and I didn’t like it coming from him. I decided I must have been a little too abrupt. “It’s just that it’s my special cup, you see. You can take a sip from it too, if you like.” I plucked it from his hands, took a sip of my own, and smiled at him over the rim. “Just not too many.”
    He smiled back at me like he thought I was teasing, but I wasn’t. He picked up the other cup, though, and drank from it from then on. After we’d both finished our coffee, he stood up. “Okay then, I’ll help you upstairs. Before we go, do you have a plastic bag? This foot doesn’t need to get wet for a few days.”
    I pointed toward the kitchen. “Under the sink. How do you know so much about bandages?”
    He looked down at me, already up on his feet and on his way to the kitchen. “I was a medic in the Army. Iraq.” He went to the kitchen and came back in a few seconds with the bag. He stuck my bandage back on and then put the bag over it, ripping it and tying it off around my ankle. “Okay, let’s get you upstairs.”
    He gathered me up again close to him,