Henry walked down to the chestnut tree and stood beside Lester. Lester looked over at him. He was a handsome boy, but like all Hopkins men, he was born old and would spend his whole life waiting for his body to catch up. This was the reason all Hopkins men married older women. Henry was taking his time, though, and Lester had taken to helping him along a little. Lester would tell Henry to lead the elementary-school tours of the dairy if the teachers were the right age and unmarried. And the decorating committee at church consisted of mostly divorced women, so Lester let them come out to collect hay in the fall and holly in the winter, and he always made Henry go out to help them. But nothing ever took. Solid and sure of himself, hardworking and kindhearted, Henry was quite a catch, if only he wasn’t so happy with himself.

But that’s what happens when you’re born old.

The car came to a stop. Lester didn’t recognize the driver, but he did recognize the woman getting out of the passenger seat.

He cackled. He always liked for Evanelle Franklin to come by. It was like finding a robin in the winter. “Looks like Evanelle needs to give us something.”

The man stayed in the car as Evanelle crossed the yard. “Lester,” she said, stopping in front of him and putting her hands on her hips, “you look better every time I see you.”

“They have a cure for cataracts now, you know,” he teased.

She smiled. “Devil man.”

“What brings you out this way?”

“I needed to give you this.” She reached into her bag of goodies and handed him a jar of maraschino cherries.

Lester looked over to Henry, who was trying to hide his smile. “Well, I haven’t had these in a long time. Thank you, Evanelle.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Say, who’s that who brought you?”

“That’s Fred, from the grocery store. He’s been staying with me. It’s been real nice.”

“Would you two like to stay for dinner?” Henry asked. “Yvonne made potato cakes.”

Yvonne was their housekeeper. Henry had hired her after Lester’s stroke last year. She was married, of course. Lester would have hired someone single.

“No, thank you, I have to get along,” Evanelle said. “I’ll see you at the Fourth of July celebration?”

“We’ll be there,” Lester said, and he and Henry watched her walk away.

“She gave me a ball of yarn once,” Henry said. “I was probably fourteen and we were on a school field trip downtown. I was so embarrassed. I threw it away. But the very next week I needed it when I was working on a school project.”