And then she was motionless, and their cries seemed far away, and Josie put the baby down on the floor, walked out of the room, slid herself into the corner of the hall, and felt the world slip from its axis.

For a few days after, Tyler refused to talk to Josie, and she was glad that Mary was gone nearly twelve hours a day, attending this month at the hospital. Josie tried to apologize to Tyler, to woo him with a book on animals of the rainforest, but he ignored her until one morning he woke up and seemed to simply forget. She was grateful and tried to convince herself that she hadn’t gotten enough sleep, that she was coming down with Tyler’s cold, that she’d drunk too much coffee, but she remembered that same vicious feeling from when they had been burying the bird, and a few days after the second incident, it washed over her again.

It was Sunday, and Josie had been at Devesh’s since Saturday morning. She thought the kids were at the neighbor’s and Mary gone to work in the lab, so when she came home to pick up a change of clothes and found the three of them in the living room, she was surprised

“You’re home,” Josie said.

“For a bit,” Mary said.

Mary had bought Halloween pumpkins, and although it was only September, they had carved them into lopsided jack-o’-lanterns and were now taking pictures in front of the fireplace. Mary had dressed Tyler in overalls and Madeline in a red dress and sat them in front of the pumpkins, but Maddy wouldn’t hold still and Tyler was intent on counting the number of lines on the pumpkin shell.

“There’s guts inside the pumpkin,” Tyler said.

“Yes, yes, I know,” Mary said. “But Tyler, please; just hold her on your lap for one picture.”

Tyler sighed. “All right, but no guts, no glory,” he said, and it was so funny that both Mary and Josie couldn’t stop laughing.

“Where did you learn that?” Mary asked.

“TV.”

“Who’s letting you watch that on TV?” she asked Josie, but Mary was smiling, and Josie shrugged. “Someone else needs a break from T-Y-L-E-R every now and then, I see,” Mary said.

“Hey, that’s my name!” Tyler shouted.

“One picture,” Mary said. “Sit up straight and hold the baby properly.” But Tyler wiggled around and held Maddy with one arm.

“Here,” Josie said and walked over to them.

“No, no, I’ll do it.” Mary rushed over and set the baby straight.

Josie brushed Tyler’s hair out of his eyes.

“I said, I’ll do it,” Mary said sharply, and Josie felt it like a punch in the gut. She took a step back and tried to will herself to let it go and casually walk to her room.

“There,” Mary said and snapped a picture. “One more.”

“No, Mommy,” Tyler said.