I spooned up my mashed potato and pushed it into the corn. The corn stuck on and I ate it fast. There was a lot left on the counter. She was going to bring it down to Rowan. I knew that for sure. She might even bring him up. Her eyes were dazzly. Something good was going to happen. Something great. I thought of the nurse from school. This time I really did have butterflies in my stomach.

“But as I always say, once you make a decision, the hard part’s over. You just got to stick to it. Follow through. Even if it’s tough.”

I looked at Gloria. She was still smiling, but not at me. She was smiling into the air. Like there was a ghost standing behind me. I looked at her plate. She wasn’t eating her food. She just moved it around. It was a mess. I swallowed, and the potato stuck in my neck. The butterflies stopped flying around. They all fell down and they felt heavy and thick and their wings and legs were moving. I put down my fork.

“Gloria? You’re not hungry?”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about that young man. Shar’s cousin. What’s his name?”

I didn’t feel good no more. She told me to kiss him on the mouth. I didn’t want to say his name, but I whispered, “Darrell.”

“How he came and helped us with that fire. I mean, Erma was there too, but she just stood around. Darrell really helped. Such a small kindness, you know, but it sure meant a lot to me. Our little house cleaning.”

I could hear the thump, thump of Chicken’s tail hitting the floor. He was next to Gloria’s shoes.

“That worked really well, didn’t it, Bids? Job done.”

The shed got clean. All the boxes and rope and welcome mat and old wood turned black and then to nothing. The wind blew away the dirty ashes.

“Telly ruined everything. You need to understand. When you look back on this night and wonder. I tried really hard to fix things. Gloria gave it her all.”

I nodded. But she was still smiling at the invisible ghost. Then she got up. She picked up her plate and turned it. The food dumped right on the floor. It splatted all over. Even up on the wall. She never done that before.

“Oh,” I said. “Was that an accident?” She didn’t answer. Chicken rushed over and gulped at it fast.

Gloria took my plate, too, and put them both in the sink. Mine still had stuff on it. But she didn’t get mad about the waste. She poured a giant glass of water and left it on the counter. I waited for her to drink it, but she didn’t.

“Gloria?”