“If you can hear me, James, I have an idea. Our road ends in a deep stream now, so there’s no use putting out the Honor Box table. Nobody will drive past anymore. I was thinking, since everyone has to go by you on Bog Road now, we could set up the Honor Box at the end of your driveway. You could sell stuff you find and Mom and I could bring our things there, too.”

James doesn’t move. His chest breathes up and down and his eyes stay shut. Wendell comes back and Mom stands at the glass door talking to him.

While they’re busy talking, I take what’s left of the water in the cup and pour it over the bandage on James’s head.

“I’m sorry, James,” I whisper, shaking the cup upside down so the last few drops come out on the stained bandage.

It’s dark when we leave the hospital. I look up at the windows, trying to figure out which one is James’s. We rode the elevator to the third floor and then went down two long halls. All the windows on the third floor are lit up, and they’re all the same size. I wish I’d taped something to James’s window so I could recognize it from outside.

Mom drives down Bower Hill Road, but instead of turning into Nana’s driveway, she keeps going until we reach the concrete barricades blocking the road. She turns the car off and opens the window. We can hear the water streaming down the hill.

“Why did you come here?” I ask her.

“Let’s just watch the water a minute.”

“But it’s dark out,” I say.

“Yes, it’s almost the new moon. Give your eyes time.”

As my eyes adjust to the dark, I see the faint sliver of the moon above the water where our house used to be. In the marshy field I see the silhouettes of birds, their long, thin legs like sticks holding up their big bodies. Their necks are long, too, and their beaks are pointy. I count each tall shape.

“There’s fifteen cranes,” I tell Mom.

“They love the water,” she says.

“The water is losing its color.”

“I thought so.”

“Why did you sing James a lullaby if he was already asleep?”

“I don’t know. Just the song that came to me when I saw him.”

“That girl Fiona asked me if I was going to go to school. She’s in James’s class.”

“It’s up to you. Wherever you are, you won’t stop learning.”

“People are saying they’ll help us build a new house. Are we going to build a new house?”

“Do you want us to build a new house?” Mom asks me.