“Yeah, I did.” I handed him a handful of oranges. “You’ve got tomatoes coming your way from Natalia’s garden too.”

He ducked his head vigorously but avoided looking at me. “Yeah, yeah. That sounds real good. Nice to have a little extra if I need it, you know?”

I raked my hand through my hair as he took the food inside. When he came back out, I said, “We all need a little extra. It’s no big deal.”

“Sure, yeah.” He patted my arm, cigarette dangling from his mouth. I frowned, unsure of what else to say. Like a lot of folks in this area, he’d worked at the same oil refinery outside the city his entire life. Eddie had also been the neighborhood handyman for as long as I could remember. Until I needed a way to stay busy after retirement. And then he’d been nice enough to show me the ropes.

He never asked for help. And now that his pension couldn’t pay all his bills, he definitely didn’t ask. But Midge couldn’t cook a dinner only for two to save her life, so her leftovers came his way. And the rest of us dropped off a few groceries on his stoop when we could.

Everyone in this city had neighbors going hungry. Eddie was one of them. But not the only. I just didn’t know what the hell to say to a stubborn old man with a lot of pride.

“Yo, Dean,” he said, catching my attention. “You meet my new cat?”

I raised an eyebrow. “What new cat?”

He waved me over to the small bench in front of his house. He’d installed a red umbrella, a small bed, and a row of tiny bowls. I peeked around the umbrella to find a white cat napping in the sun.

“There she is,” he said, affection in his voice. “She ain’t nothin’ but a stray, but I started feeding her a few weeks ago. Made this little setup so we could sit on the bench together. She likes it under the umbrella when it gets too hot or if it rains.”

“What’s her name?” I asked.

He smiled and managed to keep the cigarette in his mouth. “Pam.”

“Pam?”

“Yeah. I named her myself.”

I looked back down at the sleeping cat. “Isn’t that a person’s name?”

He scratched her ears. “I don’t fucking know. She looks like a Pam, so I named her Pam.”

“And it’s a lovely name at that,” Alice called from across the street, clearly listening to our conversation.

“Thank you, Alice,” he yelled back. “We want her to feel comfortable here on the block. The kids have been helping me feed her, and Alice knitted her a blanket for if she gets cold.”

I scratched Pam behind her ears. “She’s, uh…she’s very cute, Eddie.”