He pulled the heavy iron gate shut behind me, looped the steel chain twice through the bars, and turned the brass padlock until it clicked shut with a sharp, heavy ring.

“Stay off the property,” the guard said through the iron bars, wiping rain off his forehead with the back of his glove.

“If you come past these gates again, it’s trespassing, and we call the county sheriff.”

I didn’t answer him.

I pulled the wet edges of the blue wool blanket over Theodore’s head to keep the rain off his face and turned my back on the iron gate.

The road ran down the dark hill without a single porch light or open store in sight.