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said. “If he said nothing, he couldn’t be responsible for his mother and father’s troubles.”
    â€œThat’s what Phyllis said,” said Alice.
    â€œEverything changed,” I said. “It was like something magical happened.”
    â€œFor a while that something magical was Kodi,” said Daddy. “But then that something magical was . . .”
    â€œJack,” I said.
    â€œYes,” said Mama. “It was Jack at the end.”
    â€œAnd now Phyllis is over in her house with white fur flying around the room, attaching itself to the sapphire blue drapes and couches and on her navy blue sweater and slacks and Mr. Croft,” said Alice.
    She wrote something down in her journal and sat back.
    â€œI’m done,” she said. She put down her pen.
    â€œDone,” said Lena suddenly.
    â€œWith what?” asked Daddy.
    Alice opened the rings of her notebook and handed a page to Daddy.
    He read it:
    â€œYou Can’t Know
    You can’t know that I have everything to say
    Even if I don’t speak.
    You can’t know that I have nothing to say
    Even if I speak always.
    You can’t know what I know in my dog mind
    Because I have no words.
    You can’t know, ever, but you should,
    That a dog will save you.”
    When Daddy finished, it was quiet.
    Except for Lena. And when she spoke, it was almost a whisper.
    â€œYou can’t know.”

chapter 16
    Sometimes you think you know more than you really do—people, events, things that are true and things that are not. Sometimes you think you know yourself. But then, surprise, it is someone else who shows you what is really there, like the truth a photograph shows.
    It was Alice’s journal that turned a light on the day that Phillip was lost and began to speak. Alice is, after all, what Daddy calls the real spy.
    It was soon after all that had happened—on a summer day, no wind—when Alice showed it to us.
    ALICE’S JOURNAL
    Our life is back to the same. Maybe a little bit the same.
    Of all of us Zoe is the hero. She’s quiet and doesn’t say as much as I do, but she’s the hero. She went out in the rain and hail and wind all by herself that day to find Phillip and Jack. I should try to be more like Zoe.
    Phyllis and I had a long time to talk. Mama was right. Underneath everything I thought she was, Phyllis is nice.
    When I asked her if Mr. Croft was a spy, she laughed for a long time. She laughed a nice laugh, not a Lena laugh. I’m not disappointed to find out that Mr. Croft is a librarian! Think of a life surrounded by books and quiet.
    I told Phyllis that was more exciting than a spy. I asked her if he talked, and she told me he was more comfortable with books than with people.
    â€œDoes he know books and people are the same thing?” I asked.
    Phyllis smiled at me.
    â€œNot always,” she said.
    Phillip adopted Jack as his own rescue dog. They are happy. He has gone home to his parents, who solved their problem. Phillip hasn’t stopped talking. He writes us very talky letters.
    We have adopted Callie. She and Kodi are soul mates, Daddy says.
    Phyllis and the silent Mr. Croft decided to stay in the rental house next door for a year. Phyllis is very fond of Callie and Kodi. They visit her often, brushing up against her drapes and lying on her furniture. Phyllis is getting quite good at cleaning white fur flying off her furniture and clothes and Mr. Croft.
    Sometimes when Mr. Croft goes out to his car in his dark suit, Phyllis comes running after him, rolling a sticky tape up and down his trousers.
    Daddy has not found a home for Lena. It may be a secret to everyone, even to Daddy, but I think he loves Lena. I have started reading poetry to her, and Lena spouts it back.
    â€œI wandered lonely as a cloud!”
    â€œHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
    â€œShall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
    And Lena’s favorite, a