The locksmith arrived just as Alice’s bus pulled up.

I quickly explained that I needed to step out to meet my granddaughter, and he assured me he could keep working while I was gone.

Alice bounded off the bus, her face lighting up when she saw me.

“Grandma, guess what?

I got an A on my Jupiter project.”

“That’s wonderful, sweetheart.” I hugged her close, breathing in the scent of school and pencil shavings and that indefinable energy of children.