Since her mother was cooking downstairs, Eden went out the less-used upstairs door to the house (which had once been a two-family, thus the renovation). Eli was standing by the tree out front, a tree the mayor’s office had planted a bunch of years ago, along with one million others, supposedly to help beautify the city, but on Eden’s block it had been too little too late. The houses and apartment buildings—most of them connected to each other, with a few alleys and driveways here and there—had all been built in so many styles that they’d just never look nice together.

“Hey,” Eli said.

“Hey.” Eden went down the front stoop stairs. A white plastic bag had gotten stuck in their tree, way up on a high branch.

“How’d it go?” he said, and she handed him the device. “What’d you find out?”

“I didn’t find anything out.”

“You didn’t talk to it?”

“No, I didn’t talk to it.”

“Okay, no need to get worked up.”

She huffed. “It didn’t say or do anything else after the changing hands rule.”

“Okay, cool.” He slipped the device into his backpack.

“I was wondering, though,” Eden said. “Do you think ‘unattended’ means, you know, sleeping?”

“I hope not.” He peered into his bag. “Hey, device, can I sleep while I’m taking care of you?”

Eden peeked in, too.

The device did nothing.

Eli shrugged. “Guess it doesn’t feel like chatting.”

“I googled it but couldn’t really find anything,” she said.

“Yeah, me, too. I’ll keep trying.”

They both waited without a word while a man walked past, even though the man had headphones on and had zero interest in them whatsoever. Then Eli said, “So back to you in fourteen hours?”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Not really,” he said.

“I think we should return it,” she said. “Tomorrow.”

“Can I just see what I find out?” he said. “Before we decide?”

“Eden?” Her mother was at the upstairs door, holding the storm door open. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah!” Brightening her tone. “Mom, this is Eli. Eli, my mom.”

“Nice to meet you, Eli,” her mother said, and Eli said the same. Then Eden said, “I’ll be right in.”

The sky had turned a sort of gray pink behind the apartment building across the street. The silhouette of two birds on a satellite dish on a rooftop looked almost romantic, like they were having a moment.

“This is a nice block,” Eli said. “I walk my dog here sometimes. I didn’t know you lived here.”

“I wouldn’t call it nice, but it’s definitely popular with dog owners, because it’s quiet, I guess. But there’s always poop. It’s gross. Hey, do you think that’s what this thing is, maybe?” Eden asked. “Like a kind of computer pet?”