“What did she want?” I asked.

“She asked if we were coming over Sunday for pot roast,” he said.

“What did you tell her?” I asked.

“I told her we had errands to run,” Nate said.

“Did she ask what kind of errands?” I asked.

“She said we work too hard and ought to take a nap,” Nate said.

He broke the last piece of cold pie crust in half and held it out to me across the dark floor.

Four months went by before the last spool of copper wire ran out in the hallway.