“Let’s go.” She climbed out of the sleeping bag and put on her coat and gloves. When we were outside she asked, “Does your family always go to church?”

“My mom always does. My dad goes sometimes. But most of the time she just takes me and Joel.”

Grace thought about this. “I wish my family went to church.”

This surprised me. I didn’t see her as the churchgoing type.

We crossed the crusted snow of the backyard to the south end of the property.

“Did you know it snows in Hawaii?” Grace asked.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Not like this though. Just at the tops of the volcanoes.”

“I’d like to see a volcano in real life, “I said. “So how come they start school later in Hawaii?”

“I don’t know. They just do.” She put her hands in her coat pockets.

“When’s your birthday?”

“It was in May.”

“What did you do for it?”

“I got that radio in the clubhouse, a couple of airplane models, and some socks. Nothing special.”

“Did you do anything fun?”

“Well, my dad was just out of the hospital and we were getting ready to move, so my mom took Joel and me to Shakey’s Pizza. They play banjos and organ music. It was pretty fun.”

“Groovy.”

I wished I could say groovy as naturally as she did. We walked up over a small bridge that crossed the creek and connected the street in front of our house to our next-door neighbor’s place, which was set back at least fifty yards from the end of our dead-end street. The house as usual was dark and looked deserted.

“Who lives there?”

“I don’t know. Some old guy with a big dog. He’s pretty creepy.”

“Why?”

“He never comes out. But one time Joel saw him watching us through a telescope.”

“That is creepy.”

The creek below the bridge was a wide path of ice lined on both sides by rows of river willow.

“It’s kind of pretty,” she said. “The way it all froze up like that. Is it safe to walk on?”

“The ice is like a foot thick. Joel and I tried to break it with a hammer but couldn’t.”

I walked down the side of the steep bank, slipped once on the snow but quickly regained my footing. Grace stood at the top of the bank. “I’m going to fall.”

“I’ll help you.” I walked halfway back up and held out my hand. She took it and followed my steps down to the side of the creek. I stepped onto the ice. “See. It’s like concrete.”

She followed after me. “It feels solid.”