Joe looked at Frankie and crossed his eyes.

“Can kids get married?” Frankie asked.

His mother set her fork down and touched her temple. “What are you talking about?”

“Me and Jennifer. We want to get married and be an explorer team that investigates Bigfoots.”

Katherine and Joe broke into laughter. “Good one!” Katherine said, and Joe held up an imaginary scorecard. “Ten points!” Katherine leaned into Frankie. “I mean, look at her! That would be like marrying your grandmother.”

“Enough!” Frankie’s mother nearly shouted. “Enough, enough, enough!”

The next day his father watched the news all morning and through lunch. When he and Frankie had finished their sandwiches, he changed out of his pajamas into shorts and a white T-shirt, walked out to the storeroom at the end of the carport, and came back into the living room with a shovel. “Time to get to work,” he said.

They walked to the end of their block and down the next street, where a little concrete bridge crossed a ditch into the next neighborhood. His father smoked along the way, occasionally tapping the blade of the shovel against the sidewalk. At Mr. Krieger’s house, he let Frankie hold the shovel while he knocked on the door. This time Mr. Krieger came out wearing only his bathing suit. His chest was broad and pale and covered with gray hairs, and he had a popsicle in his hand. “AC died,” he told Frankie’s father. “How’s that for timing?”

“Real bad,” Frankie’s father said.

Mr. Krieger looked down at Frankie. “You must be who is it. Joseph.”

“I’m Frankie,” Frankie said.

Mr. Krieger said, “I don’t know, Roy. It’s not looking good out there. The whole Apollo program’s been dying a slow death for a while now, and the big boys are finally starting to get scared. I thought they’d take a few of us back, maybe pawn us off on Quality Control. But it’s a contract situation. Technicolor’s shaking in its boots.”

Frankie’s father nodded. “I thought we’d borrow that truck now, if it’s all right.”

Mr. Krieger sucked his teeth. He took the keys from a hook inside the door and handed them over. “Take your time with it. I’m not going anywhere.”