I had cleaned back there last spring, is all.

I was almost sure I had.

“Anything?” He was in the doorway now with his arms crossed, and the hall light had come on behind him without my hearing a single board creak.

“How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough.” He nodded at the floor.

“Find your ticket?”

“It’s gone.”

“It’s a piece of paper, Patty.” He said it softly, the way you’d tell a kid about a dog that ran off.