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made supper and he played with his mobile phone and then she took him upstairs and said, This was your dad’s bedroom when he was a boy. She helped him put his clothes away and he went in the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He came back and lay down and she read to him for a while and shut off the light. She kissed him and said, I’ll be right across the hall if you need something.
    Will you leave the light on?
    I’ll switch on this bedside lamp.
    And leave the door open, Grandma.
    You’ll be just fine, honey. I’m here.
    She went to her room and got changed for bed and looked in at him. He was still awake, staring at the doorway.
    Are you okay?
    He was playing with the phone again.
    I think you should put that away and go to sleep now.
    In a minute.
    No. I want you to do it now. She came over to the bed and took the phone and set it on the dresser. Go to sleep now, honey. Shut your eyes. She sat on the edge of the bed and caressed his forehead and cheek, and sat there a long time.
    In the night she woke when he came into her bedroom. He was crying and she took him into bed with her and held him and eventually he went to sleep again. In the morning he was still with her in the big bed.
    She kissed him. I’m going into the bathroom. I’ll be back in a minute. When she came out he was standing in the hallway in front of the door. Honey, don’t be afraid. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not about to leave you. I’m right here.

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    The second night was much like the first. They ate supper and she found a deck of cards and taught him a game at the kitchen table and then they went upstairs, where the boy got ready for bed and she sat down in a chair next to him and took his phone away and read to him for an hour and kissed him, leaving the light on and the door open, and went to her room and read. She got up once to check in on him and he was asleep with his phone still on the dresser. In the night he came as before into her dark room crying and she took him into her bed and in the morning he was still asleep when she woke. They had breakfast downstairs and went outside. She showed him around the yard pointing out the flowerbeds and naming the trees and bushes and took him out to the garage where her car was parked and showed him the tool bench Carl had used to repairthings and the tools hanging above it on a pegboard. The boy wasn’t much interested.
    Then Louis came to see them. I wonder if you want to come over to my house with your grandmother, he said. I want to show you something.
    In the backyard there was a nest of just-born mice he had found that morning back in the corner of the tool-shed. The babies were all pink and still blind, squirming and moiling around and making little whimpers. The boy was a little afraid of them.
    They won’t hurt you, Louis said. They can’t hurt anything. They’re just babies. They’re still nursing. She hasn’t weaned them yet. Do you know what that means?
    No.
    It means when she stops giving them her milk and they have to learn to eat other things.
    What will they eat then?
    Seeds and bits of food she finds. We can watch them every day and see how they change. Now we better put the lid back so they don’t get cold or scared. This is all the excitement they need for one day.
    They moved out of the shed and Addie said, Do you need any help in your garden today?
    I could always use a good hand here.
    Maybe Jamie could help you.
    Well, let’s ask him. You willing to help me a little?
    Doing what?
    Pulling some weeds and watering.
    Is it all right with you, Grandma?
    Yes. You stay with Louis and he’ll bring you home when you’re through and we’ll all have some lunch together.
    The boy had never pulled weeds before. Louis had to point out what he wanted in the rows and what he didn’t want. They did a little of that but the boy didn’t care for it so after a while Louis got the hose and turned the nozzle on low and showed him how to water along the base of the plants—the