I let it ring.”

I filled the kettle and said that sounded like a good start.

We carried the cups out back.

The two plastic chairs that came with the house were still on the patio, gritty with pollen, and the maple had gone that flat red it goes in October.

One low branch scraped the gutter whenever the wind picked up, and I decided I liked the sound and wouldn’t cut it.

“You didn’t drop the charges,” she said.