Five times.

He has a number for it because I asked him for a number.

And the fifth time, standing in my front hall with the case in his left hand and his van keys in his right, Mr.

Keller asked the only question that actually mattered.

“Does your mother know?”

Part Nine: What He Said to Mr. Keller

My son said yes.

He said yes, and he said that I knew, and he said that he was clearing space because he was getting a different setup, and he said it in a normal voice standing in his own hallway, and a fifty-four-year-old man with a bass guitar and a reasonable amount of life experience believed him, because why would he not.