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bet he could have it. He knew now this parenting thing left him with a lot to consider.
    As he’d always done for his niece, Graham pulled out the little red plastic cup reserved for her. He filled it with cold tap water that thankfully still ran. He handed it to Bang with the steaming bowl of food. The boy peered down at his bowl and for a second, Graham thought he might toss it on the floor, but hunger won out.
    Seeing this, Graham felt a pang of guilt at how easy their family really had it. At least, they had not gone hungry. He felt happy to be able to ease the boy’s hunger even in this little way. Once he finished, Graham debated giving him seconds, but thought it might not be a good idea. Instead, he opted to offer him more clean water. He did not want the boy to lose what he’d gained.
    With their meal completed, Graham took the time to ask him a few questions. After all, he’d only known the kid a few hours and held full responsibility for his life now. As much information as he could get would help him decide their next step. Graham knew they would be leaving for the family cabin, isolated up towards the Old Cascade Highway by the Skagit River tonight. The plans were already made. At least, they would be safe from the animals and the stench that brought them in here to civilization.
    Waiting for his father to pass felt like the only thing holding him back. His father would never consider being buried away from his mother. Even now, he could hear the howls of the packs in the distance at night. Additionally, the fires that started in Seattle continued to grow unabated. What started as a distant glow seemed to be spreading, consuming the vast amounts of fuel rapaciously on its way.
    “So, it’s just you and me now,” he said to the boy sitting on the counter with his small legs dangling down, resting his heels against the cupboard. He knew he needed to get some dialog going with the obstinate child. Remembering the letter Hyun-Ok wrote, he asked, “So, how old are you, Bang?”
    Instead of answering, Bang held up his hand and splayed five fingers. Graham tried again.
    “Can you hunt?” he asked. The boy’s face brightened a little and he nodded his response. “Well, I’ll have to see you do that sometime,” he said, trying to make the best of it, even if the boy did not want to talk back.
    Graham thought he should probably make a few things clear to his new ward before they got started. “Bang, we need to set a few rules to be safe,” he said. Recalling his sister’s voice to her own daughter, he said, “You need to always stay in my line of sight. I need to know where you are, all the time. If you have any questions, you can ask me, all right?”
    Bang just nodded.
    “Do you have any questions?” Graham asked him, putting him on the spot, and waited for a response.
    The boy’s face was blank, but then he asked all of a sudden, “Do you have a truck?”
    With a relieved smile, Graham knew he’d made some kind of break-through with the boy. He also remembered being a boy of five himself and an aficionado of trucks. “Yes, I have a blue truck. I thought we would use it today but now I think we’ll have to make different plans.
    “We have to leave here tonight and go somewhere that’s safer before the winter weather takes hold. We’ll start packing now and leave after dark. We have a lot of work to do.” He helped Bang down from the counter.
    Graham pulled out several Ziploc gallon bags and showed Bang how to fill and seal them with the leftover dry rice remaining in the opened twenty-five pound bag.
    Watching the child sift the little grains into the bags with a cup there in the kitchen reminded Graham of memories only recently made. Though partial to the pinto bean as versatile as it is, his mother did not restrict them to only one kind of rice. There were ten twenty-five pound bags of several different varieties left stored in the garage. It kept things from getting too boring, at least.