Caleb reached into the hollow of the root and drew his hand back out with nothing in it.

“Mom told us in the car we’re not allowed to ask you for spending money,” he said.

I bent down and brushed a streak of dry dirt off the back of his shirt collar.

“Your meals and your books in this house are already taken care of,” I said.

“You tell her I said that.”

He looked up at me, working his tongue against the gap of his missing front tooth.

“Can we check under the citrus trees by the back fence now?” he asked.