Twelve Months Later, Ethan Came Back With a Sleeping Newborn and a Broken Suitcase

A bank receipt, torn into three pieces and pressed flat.

I sat on the floor with my back against the dresser and fitted the pieces together on the carpet.

Fairview Savings Bank, Route Nine, where Richard had worked for twenty-six years.

A withdrawal slip.

Dated the Thursday before Easter.

Fourteen thousand two hundred dollars.

The account line read EDUCATION.

Under it, in a clerk’s stamp, ETHAN R.