She didn’t know that the brothers were from Winterville and had moved to Ma Dudley’s after their house had gotten foreclosed on. And she had never met them because Rob worked nights and Steve never went out.

And she suddenly felt like something wasn’t right about Steve’s situation. And like he needed help. And like she could help him. But before she could figure out how she might help him, Steve said, “You guys are loud.”

And Marvalyn got flustered and stammered, “H-huh?”

“You and your boyfriend. You yell and bang.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Marvalyn and Eric were going through a rough patch. And there had been some yelling. And maybe some banging. But she didn’t think that Steve could possibly have heard them all the way down in the basement. So she asked, “Did you … hear us … from down here?” She was afraid to hear the answer.

“No. But the new lady who moved in on the second floor said that you guys yell and bang a lot and that she can hear you.”

“Oh.” The “new lady” Steve was talking about was Vivian—or Vicky—or Veronica—from the second floor. And Marvalyn realized she’d better apologize to her for the noise.

In the meantime, she apologized to Steve. “Sorry about that. We’re goin’ through a rough patch. Sorry.”

“Didn’t bother me. I didn’t hear ya.”

“Well—I’m glad! So, um, listen, it was nice to meet you, but—”

“Nice to meet you, too.”

“Yeah, but I’ve gotta get back to my boyfriend, ’cause he’s waiting for me, actually, I think. We had a fun little stay-at-home date night,” she said, wanting Steve to know that she and Eric were happy—when they weren’t yelling and banging. “So I’m gonna go back up and hang out with him, so maybe I’ll see you around, okay?”

“Yeah.”

Marvalyn gathered her laundry basket and started to go. The washing machine that had Steve’s laundry in it buzzed to let him know his wash was done. Marvalyn was startled by the sound. And stopped. And, from the entrance to the laundry room, she watched Steve get up and remove the clean clothes from the washer and transfer them to the dryer.

She was fascinated by him.

“What’s it like?” she suddenly asked. Marvalyn didn’t feel like she was the one who had just asked that question. She felt like another version of herself somewhere deep down inside her had asked it for her.

Steve jumped a little at the question. He didn’t know Marvalyn hadn’t left. And he was happy she hadn’t, for some reason. “Huh?” he asked.

“What’s it like? To not feel pain.”

“Oh. I don’t know,” Steve answered honestly. “I’ve never known what it’s like to hurt, so … I don’t know. I guess it just feels … normal, to me.”

“You’re kind of lucky, you know. In a way.”

“Yeah. I know. My brother Rob says I’ll never have to worry about getting addicted to painkillers. So that’s lucky.”

That wasn’t quite what Marvalyn had meant when she said that Steve was kind of lucky to not feel pain, but she couldn’t deny that it was true. “Yeah, I guess,” she concurred. And then she wondered if Steve’s condition was genetic or the result of some sort of trauma, so she asked, “So … were you born this way?”