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Christian snapped a picture. Then he moved several steps and took another. Again, several more steps, this time to the side, and snapped a photo.
“Enough,” Sheldon announced, getting to his feet. “I’m not that interesting. What about the marina. The boats there are beautiful and would be good subjects for you.”
“I already took a lot of those,” he said.
The two began walking again. “Have you taken some of your friends?”
“Yeah,” he said as if he’d exhausted all the subjects he knew. “My grandma, too.”
“What about buildings? There are some cool houses around here. There are the stores in town. You could choose one subject and take a lot of that type. Do a study of it.”
“What do you mean?” Christian frowned up at him, screwing his face into a peculiar mask.
“Well, you could choose windows and take pictures of the windows in a lot of places, stores, houses, boats, cars. Or you could choose doors, roofs, cars...”
“Cars,” he stopped Sheldon. “I like cars.”
“There are some terrific ones around here. But,” he cautioned, “if you see the owner, be sure to ask permission first.”
“I will.”
They reached the Laundromat. Sheldon held the door and his small charge went inside. While the dryers produced heat, it was still cooler inside than out. Sheldon went directly to the washers. He was familiar with this place, coming once a week to clean his clothes. Once he put the clothes in the machine, he lifted Christian onto it and the two of them sat and waited for the clothes to be washed.
“You wanna know what else we do at camp?” Christian asked.
“I’d love to.” Sheldon smiled. He hadn’t had much interaction with children in his past and he found he loved hearing about the world through the eyes of this nine-year-old. Everything was wonderful and new. It was like he discovered the world every time he turned a corner.
“We were playing a game one day when it was raining and we couldn’t go to the park.”
“So what did you do?”
“We talked about places.”
“What places?”
“A lot of them. Our counselor is from way up north in Canada and he told us about where he was born and what they grow and eat there. Then he asked us what we knew about where we lived.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I didn’t know a lot.” He twisted around and looked at Sheldon. “I told them about the beach and that there were a lot of fish in the ocean. That there were sea shells in the sand and sometimes we collected them and made things. I told him there were a lot of boats in the water and that you cleaned the bottoms.”
“You told them about me?”
“Was that all right?” Immediately, Christian was defensive.
“Yes, that was all right.” He reassured him.
“I told them that the boats couldn’t go very fast if you didn’t take care of them.”
Sheldon smiled. That wasn’t exactly the truth, but for a nine-year-old to distill it to that level was fine.
“Tell me about where you’re from,” Christian asked.
Sheldon thought about that. Could he really say he was from somewhere? Maryland felt like a lifetime ago.
“I could tell you the history of Maryland, but that would be boring.”
Christian laughed. “Tell me about where you lived before you came here.” He looked up at Sheldon as if he was ready to hang on every word.
“Before coming here I’d lived in a lot of places. But I’m from Maryland. I lived on a farm there. We called it the Kendall.”
“It was named after you?” Christian sat up straighter as he asked the question, impressed that someone could have a farm with his name on it.
“Not after me. I come from a long line of Kendalls. The farm was named by one of those long-ago relatives.”
“I’ve never seen a farm. I mean never been on one. We drove by farms when I came to live with my grandma. But I don’t really remember any names of them.”
“It wasn’t a farm that grew anything except grass.”
“Grass?” Again he screwed his face into a frown.
“It was a horse farm.”
“Horses!” This caused a huge smile to replace the frown. “How do you farm horses?”
“We bred them, meaning we raised the horses from the time they were born. We boarded them, let them live in a long stable.”
“Did you get to ride them?”
“Every day,” Sheldon clarified. “Horses have to be exercised so they don’t get fat and have problems with their legs.”
“Like I have to go to gym in school.”
“Exactly.” Sheldon smiled at his comprehension.
“Who’s exercising the horses now?”
Sheldon frowned. “I had to sell the horses before I left.”
Christian thought about that for a while. Then he perked up and looked Sheldon directly in the face. “I suppose you couldn’t leave them alone. Someone would need to give them food and water and exercise them.”
“Exactly,” Sheldon said. At that moment the washer finished its cycle.
* * *
SHELDON LISTENED TO their footsteps as he and Audrey walked from the theater later that night. They’d gone to the movies. He’d taken her on a date. He hadn’t been out with another woman since Laura died.
“Christian told me you told him about your farm in Maryland.”
“He mentioned his camp project. I gave him some information to share.”
“That was nice of you. He’s been talking about horses since you mentioned them. He asked me to take him to the library so he could get some books.”
Sheldon smiled.
“You’re a good influence on him.”
“Thank you,” Sheldon said. “I wasn’t a good influence on my own brother.”
“Life gives us second chances,” Audrey said.
“Is that written on a card in your classroom?” he asked.
“It is,” she said. “That doesn’t mean it’s not true.”
“I have a letter from Jason,” he said.
Audrey stopped on the street and faced him. She seemed too surprised to speak. “Why didn’t you tell me? You said it like you were asking to pass the butter, when contacting him has plagued you for months.”
“I haven’t opened it.”
“Why not?”
“Fear.” He paused for a long time. “I don’t know what’s in it. He doesn’t know me now, doesn’t know where I’ve been and what I’ve gone through. The letter could tell me to never contact him again.”
“It could,” she agreed. “But you’ll never know what it says if you don’t open it.”
“I realize that.”
“How did he find you?” Audrey asked.
“I sent a letter to the Kendall as you suggested. I never expected to get a response from Jason.” Sheldon thought he might get a reply from the owner of the farm, but seeing Jason’s handwriting and the return address on the envelope, it nearly burned his hand. “I assume he lives at the Kendall. He must be doing well if he could return to the Kendall and support the farm.”
“Don’t jump to any conclusions. You only know that Jason used the address.”
“How many people are you aware of who would allow you to use their address if you didn’t live there?”
She nodded, understanding his point. “But when you left, you said the place was run-down.”
“It was, but someone bought it. A woman. I have no idea what it looks like now.”
“It could have been sold to your brother,” she suggested.
“Which means he’d have to have enough money to purchase it.”
“That’s beside the point, isn’t it. You’re not interested in his finances. You want to contact him for different reasons.”
Sheldon looked away. She was right. He did want to contact his brother to try to make amends.
“I don’t think I can just apologize and our past antagonism will up and disappear. There’s a lifetime of bad blood between us, which I caused.”
Audrey took his arm. Her fingers moved down until she reached his hand, which she caught and held. “Nothing is ever that absolute. Even if you don’t make amends with your brother, you’ll be better for trying. It’s up to you. If attempting to explain your actions because not doing it is holding your stomach in knots, then they will never go away until you do something about it.”
Sheldon pulled her arm through his and the two continued walking. Instead of him taking her to her porch, he passed it and continued to the bungalow where he’d lived for the past eight months.
The place was only three rooms and a bath. Sheldon kept it neat, he didn’t have much. He swept daily, cleaned his dishes and made his bed.
“Have a seat,” he said when she came inside. “I have iced tea or I can make coffee or there’s bottled water.” Sheldon didn’t have any alcohol. He’d given it up for a lot of good reasons. “What can I get you?”
“Iced tea would be good,” she said.
Sheldon poured two glasses of tea and set them on the small table in the kitchen. While Audrey drank hers, he retrieved the envelope with Jason’s name on it. Both of them looked at the letter. Audrey said nothing. The only sound in the room was their breathing. Outside, Sheldon heard the marina water lapping against the pier and the gentle bobbing of boats as they rose and fell with the ever shifting bay.
