Laura was sitting at the table.

“I want you to drink all of this,” he said.

He tipped the water in the pot into a tall glass, filling it.

Laura drank from the glass. “I just want to lie down,” she told him. “Will you come lie down with me?”

“Yes,” he said.

But they didn’t lie down. They sat there at the table.

“If we had water, we could help people in the neighborhood,” she said. “We could bring whole buckets.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If we could get water from somewhere. We could boil it.”

“I just used the last of our charcoal.”

“Anything can burn, Eddie. We could boil it and strain it with a coffee filters. We could bring it all over.”

It sounded like the half-dreamt pillow talk she’d murmur after a long day, and Eddie squeezed her hand to keep her awake.

“It’s Mike Jr. you should worry about,” he said.

“What’s wrong?” she said. Her eyes shifted suddenly, and it was that, more than the fear in her voice, that startled him.

“He’s just thirsty. Just like the rest of us. He’s dehydrated, is all.”

“If we got water from the stream …” she said.

“No,” Eddie said. “You’re staying here. You’re staying right where you are.”

“Eddie, please. If I want to go, I’ll go.”

“We’re trying to conserve our strength. And you’re talking about going for a hike in the woods.”

“I’m talking about walking a few blocks.”

“Let me tell you what you’re talking about. You’re talking about going down to a muddy little stream to bring back water that will make you sick. They’ll be here to fix it soon. Everyone knows it’s out. They’ll helicopter in water bottles if they have to. I heard helicopters out there before. But it’s not going to come to that.”

“There’s no water in the stream, is there?”

“I’m sure there’s water in the stream.”

“Have you been down there, Eddie? Did you see that it was empty? It’s like beneath the bridge, isn’t it?”

“No. I haven’t been down there. There’s water in the stream.”

“Oh, God.”

“There’s water in the stream, Laura.”

“What’s happening?”

“Go lie down. I will, too. We just need to rest. They’ll be here soon. There’s too many people for them not to come.”

Eddie put his hands on her hips and guided her to the bedroom. She was trembling.

“Easy,” he said.

The more she shook, the more steadily he walked with her.

“Tell me,” she said. “You’ve been thinking about it. Even if you’re not sure. Just tell me what you think.”

“It’s nothing. Something at the reservoir. Something with the power.”

“I saw those burned-up trees.”

“Then maybe there was something in the water that was flammable. The other water’s probably fine.”

“My parents.”

“It’s different water. That’s what I’m saying. We’re on reservoir water. That means it’s all connected to one spot. It’s like dominoes, but ours are on a different table from your parents’. Right? The dominoes aren’t going to jump to another table.”

“They’ll fix it, though.”

“Fixing it is their job. The engineers or whoever. The people who can dig a highway underneath a river to get to New York City. Can you even imagine that? It’s all magic to people like us, but they can do it. They fix things like this.”

“You have faith in them.”

“I do.”

“Then I do, too.”

“Just rest now,” he said.