For the first time in months he set the phone down without replying.

He pictured the narrow diner booth and Sophie’s sugar-packet houses.

He wondered whether she was having breakfast in a warm room.

His temptation was to send money, call a dozen people, and assemble a solution before noon.

Caroline had often criticized that impulse.

“You sometimes manage people when you should listen to them,” she used to say.

Instead he called his sister, Ruth, whose Christmas invitation he had declined.

She answered while grandchildren were arguing cheerfully in the background.