I took a deep breath. “So that was fun,” I said.

Oren snorted. “Is that true about her grandfather?”

I nodded. “Yeah,” I said and then turned toward him. “What about you? Did you mean all that? About my family?”

“Seriously?” He did a double take. “You have to ask?”

I shrugged. “I guess not, but it’s nice to hear. What else were you going to say?”

“That you smell nice. Like strawberries.”

“Aw, thanks!” I said.

He nudged me with his shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go finish this project.”

But we didn’t have a chance to get back to it, because as soon we got in the house, I knew there had been a death.

Mom came down the stairs in one of her charcoal-gray suits. “Oh, good, you’re back,” she said. “Can you run next door and do a quick tidy? I have a family coming in a couple of hours. I didn’t think we’d have anyone until after Shabbat, but…” She shrugged. “Your father and I need to go to the hospice.”

Then she seemed to notice Oren standing beside me. “You’re welcome to hang out downstairs until Evie’s done,” she said to him.

He glanced at me and then back at Mom. “I’m good at dusting and vacuuming. Is it okay if I help?”

She blinked, obviously surprised. “Oh…uh…are you sure?”

Oren nodded. “You don’t even have to pay me or anything.”

“Thank you. If you want to help, you’re welcome to.” Mom reached forward to ruffle his hair a little. Oren seemed to like it. I wondered if his own mom used to do that.

Once she was gone, Oren asked, “Will there be anyone else in there?”

“Probably not.” I looked out the window at the parking lot. “Syd’s car isn’t there.”

“Let’s go,” Oren said. “I’ll help you clean, and then you can show me some more stuff.”

I’d already suspected this was his plan when he volunteered. “How much do you want to see?”

He thought about that. “I don’t know. Can I decide as we go?”

I nodded. “Sounds good. All right, let’s go.”

We got next door just as my parents were pulling away in Ecto. We waved at them and then went around to the side door. I pressed the numbers on the keypad to open the door.

“They’ll be gone for a while, but I don’t know how long. Want to look at stuff first?”

Oren bit his lip.

“I can’t show you a dead person,” I said. “There aren’t any here. And even when there is one, someone is always here watching over them. So if you really want to see one, it’s going to be complicated.”

“What do you mean ‘watching over them’?” Oren asked, frowning.

“Remember when I told you how the soul sticks around until the funeral?” When he nodded, I explained, “A person has to sit with the body to say prayers and comforting things, so the soul feels better and isn’t scared about… you know, what happened.”