Inside the kitchen Phillip stared at Lena. Lena slid sideways on her bar perch and bobbed her head, staring back at him.
“Lena’s waiting for you to say something,” said Alice.
There was a silence.
“Okay,” said Alice. “I’ll do the talking. Lena, meet Phillip.”
“Meet Phillip,” said Lena.
Phillip’s eyes widened. He grinned and moved his hand for Alice to say something else.
“Phillip is a nice boy, Lena,” said Alice.
“Nice boy, Lena,” said Lena.
Phillip laughed suddenly. It was the only sound we’d heard from him. It had burst out of him, somehow, like music. It made me think of the cheerful sound of Daddy emptying the coins from his pockets onto the kitchen table.
It made Lena laugh too. Kodi came up and nosed Phillip. Kodi was nearly as tall as Phillip, and somehow Phillip looked small next to Kodi, his skinny arm around Kodi’s neck.
“Tomorrow May goes to her new home,” said Alice.
Phillip frowned a bit. He reached out and patted May. She sniffed his face, making Phillip close his eyes happily.
Mama put sandwiches on the table.
“Lie down, Kodi. Lie down, May,” said Mama. “They can easily reach the table and eat your food,” she added.
“Food,” said Lena.
Phillip ate quickly. He looked around the sunny kitchen at Lena and the dogs. I wondered what it was like eating with the Crofts next door. Was it quiet? Too quiet? One small boy with two grown-ups who didn’t seem to know what to do with Phillip?
Of course, Alice the talker said it out loud.
“I bet it is different next door,” she said, not expecting Phillip to answer.
He didn’t.
“The spy and the queen next door eat at a long, dark table in a long, dark dining room,” said Alice, making up a story. “They eat creamed spinach and liver. There is no talk. When there is talk, it is boring.
“‘Nice day, dear . . . la-la-la.’
‘How do you like my tie? . . . la-la-la.’
‘Lovely liver . . . la-la-la.’
“The boy who lives with them bundles up the creamed spinach and liver in his napkin and puts it in his pocket. He throws it in the trash when the spy and the queen aren’t looking.”
Phillip grinned at his toasted cheese sandwich.
But he didn’t speak.