Their little two-bedroom house was the last one on the left side of the street. Just past it, the road ended in an unexpected mass of greenery, where a thin wooden staircase disappeared into the brush. He had taken Jessie down through the little “park” several times. The staircase wound around several thick tree trunks and down a steep bank before ending abruptly in a caged lookout overlooking a highway. This was the Rochester council’s idea of adding a touch of country to an otherwise urban setting. They moved to this place three months ago, after he had been unable to find a job and they had to sell their old house, located in a much nicer setting outside the city. The new place wasn’t much, but it saved them some money.

He pulled their three-year-old Corolla into the driveway just as the sun managed to break through the heavy layer of clouds for the first time, painting a soft, pale glow across the tops of the bare shrubs that lined the edges of the house. As he walked quickly up the narrow path to the door, he caught just a glimpse of Jessie’s little face peering down at him from one of the attic windows. He knew that now she would be racing to the front door to greet him, and it made him smile. When he was working, she had never let a day slip by without this greeting. He had missed that.

“Daddy Daddy!” Jessie flung herself up into his arms as he opened the door, and he fought for a moment to keep his balance.

“Oh, my little devil,” he said, swinging her up onto his shoulders. “You frightened me.”

She giggled and clung to him. This was their little game, and no matter how many times it was played, she reacted as if it had never happened before. If he didn’t act surprised, she would get angry and pout through supper. So he played along, and occasionally allowed himself a moment to realize that these evening rituals did him as much good as they did her.

He walked over to the kitchen table, bent down and swung Jessie over his head and into a chair, taking a moment to ruffle her hair and give her a big noisy kiss on the cheek. She smelled faintly of attic dust mingled with the sweet child smell she always carried. “Where’s your mother?”

“She’s sleeping.” Jessie gave him her serious look, and he smiled, keeping his real reaction to himself. In fact, this worried him. Helen had been spending more and more time in bed lately, and he hoped she was not having another of her migraines, which usually immobilized her for hours.

He fumbled into the tiny bedroom, which was shrouded in darkness. As his eyes adjusted, he was able to make out his wife’s form on the bed, and he sat down next to her.