“What else do you want to write?” Mom asks. Ben sighs, kicking the last of the unpacked boxes. He thinks of Leo far away, back in the town where he used to live.
“Let’s go for a walk,” says Mom. They step out into the misty morning and walk past a row of houses, through the park, down to the pier at Liberty Bay.
Mom helps Ben into a red life jacket. They read the names of boats as they walk past. Inside The Way Home, a bearded man watches TV. On the deck of Get Lost, a woman in a striped cap brushes her teeth.
Suddenly, a seal pokes its nose out of the water, whiskers quivering. It rolls over on its back and watches them with black eyes.…
