Then Ben saw them looking past him toward the door. Ben knew immediately that it was something bad, and he turned to find three kids at the doorway looking in with incredulous smiles. Ben turned back to the room and saw what they saw. Framed photos of the school—a bright red maple tree in front of the chapel, the main Kuyper Library from across the pond at sunset, a crew shell in the early morning mist—hung perfectly centered on each wall. Ben’s NAD stereo components and Klipsch speakers had been moved, and in their place stood a black lacquered stand with a sleek Bang & Olufsen slide-apart CD player on it, flanked by chest-high pole speakers.

The picture of the Great Auk was laid on top of Ben’s stereo components. There was no mistaking that Hector and Benito were servants.

Ben turned back to Ahmed, whose expression of happy anticipation had hardly changed, and who now looked to the doorway as though to welcome everyone. Ben expected the other kids to just walk into the room and take things roughly in their hands and laugh. One kid in a green UVM hat pointed and said, “Oh my god, look.” Ben looked. It was a gargantuan burgundy tufted-leather sofa with bright brass upholstery nails. He imagined Hector and Benito carrying it up the stairs with Ahmed giving a fountain of directions while the tendons in their necks stood out. Two more kids appeared in the doorway and began to gawk.

Ben turned to the kids and put on a dismissive smile, then kicked the wedge away and closed the door. He turned back around and gestured toward the tools and two-by-four pieces. “What’s this stuff for?”

“You lift the bed and you can put the desk underneath. We can have maximum space. We can do the same for you,” Ahmed went on, gesturing to the workers with a short sweep of his hand as though presenting them to Ben as a gift. His smile seemed to ache with the effort of making everything ideal.

“I’m…okay. Thanks, though.”

Ahmed’s smile was extinguished. “The work is unpleasant. Perhaps we can go to the Den and sit and get to know each other better while the work is finished.” He smiled again.

“Why did you take down my poster?”

“These photographs are beautiful.”

Ben looked at the two workers, whose faces were at once anxious and disengaged. They wanted the interaction between the two boys to end so that they could finish the work.

“Perhaps we can go to the Den and get to know each other better while the work is finished,” Ahmed said again. Ben knew that the Den’s snack bar would be closed now and the room deserted.