Then along the leaf seam there was a faint bump, a raised edge in the wood I never would have felt if I had not been running my thumb along it.

I eased back the leaf.

Two pages had slipped down between the boards.

One was blank except for a grocery list: milk, eggs, and a box of infant cereal circled twice.

The other was a room chart.

Someone had drawn boxes in pen and written names in them.

Three scratched-out lines ran near the bottom of the page, and the page still carried the dents of a heavier hand underneath.

I held it up to the lamp and tipped it from side to side.