After dinner, Pete and I take walks around the tiny town. People watch us, but they usually don’t speak. Tonight, a woman walking a giant poodle started talking to us from half a block away about a metal children’s car in an antique store window. Pete makes her omelets all the time at the restaurant. He says her politeness is confusing in a local.

Pete didn’t hear the alarm this morning, but I got up and immediately felt nervous. This feeling followed me through the day. By the early evening, I was jumping out of my skin. The doorbell rang. Through the front door, I saw my nephew. He said, I forgot yesterday was Monday. I said, Me too!