I went out onto the concrete front steps, where the shade was still cool.

Clay was sitting on the top step drinking his coffee while his work truck warmed up in the gravel driveway.

Benji came running around the corner of the brick house holding a sheet of yellow construction paper.

He plopped down right between Clay and me on the step.

“I made you another drawing,” Benji said.

He pushed the paper into my hands, his thumb leaving a small smudge of garden mud on one corner.

I spread the paper flat across my lap in the sunshine.