I sat down next to Oren and handed him one of the glasses “Here you go. I hope you like lemonade.”

He nodded and took the glass, the ice cubes clattering as he took a sip.

“Are you okay?” I asked softly. “I mean, I understand if it’s weird being here after…” I waved toward the funeral home.

He shrugged and looked down at his glass.

What did that shrug even mean? I was getting to know him but not well enough that I could interpret all his different shrugs.

Finding a flat spot on the ground, I put my glass down before I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened up a note.

Can you please tell me if your okay?

I turned the screen toward him so he could read my message.

He took a long drink of his lemonade and put his glass down before he took the phone from me and frowned at it. Then he typed something and aimed it back so I could read his message.

You mean you’re

It took me a second to figure out what he meant. I looked up at him. “Are you seriously correcting my grammar right now?”

He shrugged again, but his lips were twitching—he was trying hard not to grin.

I rolled my eyes and shoved my phone toward him. “Here,” I said. “Give me your number.”

He entered it in, and a second later I heard his phone bing. He handed mine back to me and then pulled his out of the big side pocket of his shorts. A second later my phone binged too.

Now you have my humber.

I laughed and typed back, I think you mean NUMBER.

He smiled over at me for a half a second and then returned to tapping a message. I do feel weird about being here. But want to know.

I looked up at him. “Want to know what?”

He waved toward the building.

What happens in there. He took a deep breath. Like, to my parents.

I read his message over and over, trying to figure out exactly what he meant.

Finally I said, “You mean you want to know what my parents do with people who have…like…people who have died?”

He nodded.

“Not like…” I took a breath. A long, deep breath. “You don’t want to see a dead person, do you?”

He took a deep breath too. Then he nodded again.

My stomach jumped at that. “I don’t know, Oren. I mean, they don’t even let me see everything. I’ve never even seen…”

He frowned and went back to typing.

When he finished, he looked up at me, tears welling up in his eyes.

My parents died. I deserve to know.

Oh. After a minute I said, “Does this have to do with why you won’t talk?”

He shook his head.

“If I take you over there and show you stuff, will you talk?”

Another head shake.

“Will you at least tell me why you won’t talk?”