Chapter 13
I walked down my street, returning from the Atwater market, glad to have been out of the apartment for a few hours. There was a general excitement in the air this late afternoon. People were outside on their balconies, and kids were chasing each other up and down the sidewalk. Grass poked through patches of melting snow. It was five and the sun was still out. My God, spring was here. This year, winter had seemed longer than ever.
“How are you?” My neighbor, the retired police officer whose name I’d forgotten again, waved to me. “Look at this,” he said, smiling. “And it’s only gonna get better.”
His genuine satisfaction with the weather made me laugh and I waved back at him, but didn’t stop to talk. I ran up the three steps leading to my porch, hurried inside, and slammed the
