“Your benefits run through the end of the month.

That’s the most I could hold on to.”

I carried the box down to the garage and put it on the passenger seat, and the badge slid into one corner and stayed put.

I set the box on my kitchen table and left the light off.

The apartment held its breath the way an empty place does.

Elsie’s little rocking chair sat pushed against the wall where I’d moved it so I’d quit bumping into it.

Then my phone lit up and turned the ceiling blue.