His shoulders lifted, and by the time he left he had volunteered to make reminder calls for other seniors.

Afterward Maya said, “He arrived needing company and left with a job he chose.”

“A volunteer job,” Elise corrected gently.

“Still a job.

Something to look forward to.”

I thought of Arthur’s journal and the Sunday entries.

The value of those visits had never been in the groceries alone.

It was the small certainty that a person had a place in someone else’s week.