“It smelled like gasoline and loud perfume.”

Eleanor taped up the first box and handed it to me.

I carried it down the stairs and out to the trunk of my Buick.

We spent an hour packing the essentials, filling the trunk and the back seat with everything Emma needed.

I locked the front door of the Elm Street house and dropped the spare key into the mailbox.

We drove back across town as the streetlights began to click on along the avenue.