The next spring, Ashley’s class had an assignment to write about a person who had shown courage.

Andrew expected her to choose a firefighter or Officer Natalie.

Instead she sat at the kitchen table with her pencil hovering over a blank sheet.

“Can courage be more than one person?” she asked.

“I think so.”

She began slowly.

She wrote about Eric answering a phone, Natalie opening a door, Aunt Helen coming from far away, and her father trying to get home even when he was hurt.

She also wrote about the neighbors who brought meals after they learned to ask questions instead of guessing answers.