I took the butter plate, put it in the microwave on medium for ten seconds, then gave it back to Jeremy.

“That’s better,” he said, dipping the knife into it and spreading some onto the bread. “I used to make sandwiches with my dad.”

“Oh yeah?” I said. “When did your parents split up?’

He shrugged. “Long time ago. They were separated for ages, and then they finally decided to get a divorce.”

“That can be tough,” I said.

“Whatever,” Jeremy said. He slapped some meat onto a piece of bread, lay a cheese slice on top of it, then a second piece of bread. “It’s quiet here,” he said.

“There’s more traffic in the middle of the day,” I said. “It’s noisier then.”

“That’s not what I meant. There’s not all the yelling.”

“Oh, that. You live with a lot of that?”

He shrugged. “My mom and Madeline argue a lot. And then Mom and Bob, too. That’s why I sneak out sometimes.”

“Sure.”

He slid some bread slices my way and I layered on some deli meat.

“Where are we going to go?”

“I thought we’d see all the hotspots of upper New York state.”

“There are some?”

That made me laugh. “A couple. What are you interested in?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know what you’re interested in?”

“My mom’s always trying to get me interested in things I don’t care anything about.”

“Like?”

“I don’t know. Like documentaries. The History Channel. I don’t care about that stuff. I like movies. Did you see the new Star Wars?”

“No.”

“It was okay.”

“What else has she tried to get you interested in?”

He shrugged. “She likes to sign me up for sports, but I don’t like sports.”

“Why not?”

“Do I have to have a reason?”

“I guess not.”

“There’s one thing, though,” Jeremy said.

“What’s that?”

“You won’t laugh.”

“Of course not.”

“I like art.”

“Art? You like to paint?”

He shook his head. “I hate history, but I like reading about painters. Are there any art galleries we could go to?”

I wasn’t expecting that. “Yeah, I think we could find some of those. You take art in school?”

“I was going to, but Bob told my mom that I should take something else, that I’d never get anywhere taking that. You can’t get a job doing art.”

“Not everything you take has to be aimed at a career.”

“That’s what I said, but Mom agreed with Bob.”

“Would you like to be an artist? I know a little girl—well, she’s not that little, she’d be twelve now, I think—named Crystal who likes to draw all the time. Those things they call graphic novels. She’d like to do those when she grows up.”

“Is she good?”