“I’ve known that child since she was knee-high.

She’s never polite with me.

She sits on my counter and eats my crackers and tells me my curtains are ugly.”

I laughed once and put my hand over my mouth.

“Ugly curtains,” Elena said.

“Out of the mouths of babes.”

She reached over and turned the heater up a notch.

“My alternator is going.