Samuel Reed Kept an Old Wooden Bat Behind the Pantry Door for Twenty Years

“The rest of it I can carry.”

She pulled her coat tighter and set her hands in her lap, open, not wrapped around herself.

“Mrs.

Kettle asked what I did for work.

I told her I start at Arthur’s office Monday.”

“Answering phones.”

“Answering phones.” She smiled at the field.

“He says he’ll teach me the filing if I last a month.”