“In my day first-graders were issued a thick red pencil,” Ted said. He was on the porch with a clipboard.

“Nice costume,” Suzanne said. “All we have to do is plant you.”

Ted bowed as much as his sandwich board would allow. “Where’s your costume?”

Suzanne looked down at her slacks and blouse, her cashmere pullover. “I’m a stressed-out mother. Aren’t I convincing?”

Ted gave her the petition. “All we want to do is get the town council to discuss the idea. That’s all you’re doing by signing. Saying you support that. We just want to keep houses like Nick Cox’s out in the exurbs, where they belong.”

“He has a nice new house,” said an alternate, heavier version of Ted dressed in a baseball shirt and cap.

“I didn’t know there were two of you,” Suzanne said, receiving an introduction. “Baseball fan?”

Terrance nodded. “And Ted likes trees. Allison likes cowboy stuff, right, Allison?”

“Sort of . . . ,” Allison said.

“What do you like?” Terrance asked Suzanne.

Suzanne could feel her smile cracking, aging. “I like . . . ,” she said. What did she like? It was an interesting question. To win? Did that count? “I like coffee. I’m going to get one.”

She went into the café, where she meant to become a regular. She studied the menu above the counter in search of a size larger than large.

Lucy, with blue hair and blackened teeth, was serving up a Halloween menu of hot and cold Jack-o’-Lantern Juice and Ghostly White Hot Chocolate. There were candy apples, and, in addition to the ordinary bars and cookies, frosted cookies shaped like witches and ghosts—some for humans and others for dogs. A big jug full of candy corn sat on the counter beside a small sign: GUESS HOW MANY AND WIN A LUCY’S T-SHIRT! Lucy could teach her a thing or two about marketing, Suzanne thought.

Beauty sat at a table in the corner with a little boy. Blond hair, yellow gown—she complemented Lucy’s color scheme perfectly. Kaye Cox. They’d met a few weeks ago, when Kaye stopped by with a bright pink plate full of fudge.